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A government official has confirmed that new "appropriate treatment" requirements under proposed NDIS legislation could include a requirement for participants to take medication — after being given multiple opportunities to explicitly rule out chemical restraints.
The exchange came during public hearings into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the Future Generations) Bill 2026, when Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John pressed a departmental official directly on the issue.
"I want to be clear, in your meeting with the department, you gave them multiple opportunities…to explicitly rule out chemical restraints within that definition, and they didn't do that. That's correct, isn't it?," Senator Steele-John queried.
"When I asked, this could include a requirement for somebody to take medication"? "Yes," the official confirmed.
Under the NDIS Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support Rules 2018, a chemical restraint is defined as the use of medication or chemical substance for the primary purpose of influencing a person's behaviour, rather than to treat a health condition.
The Bill's new permanence rules would require NDIS participants to exhaust "all appropriate treatment" before accessing the scheme. Senator Steele-John warned this could pressure families to place children on medications not recommended by their doctors. "These medications often make people very sleepy, groggy, or less able to respond to what's happening around them," he said.