KEY FACTS — SAM PETERSEN AND NDIS MANDATORY REGISTRATION
✅ Sam Petersen: high support needs power wheelchair user, communicates via speech device, no family support network
✅ Experienced abuse, neglect and infantilisation from multiple registered NDIS providers
✅ Built a safe, functioning life through carefully chosen unregistered sole traders
✅ Fears NDIS cuts and mandatory registration will force her back to a system that failed her
✅ NDIA confirmed: new framework planning delayed to 1 April 2027 following community consultation
✅ Current NDIS eligibility and planning policies remain in place — no immediate action required
✅ Kinship Uniting Services: registered NDIS provider
NDIS ID: 4-GWVHCEY | 0437 733 744
This week, a woman named Sam Petersen wrote a letter to her Member of Parliament.
Sam is a high support needs power wheelchair user. She communicates via a speech device. She has no family she can rely on for her support needs.
Her letter was published publicly on LinkedIn. I read every word of it.
And it has stayed with me.
What Sam Experienced With Registered Providers
Sam’s experience with registered NDIS providers was not one bad provider. It was a pattern across multiple providers.
She experienced discrimination, infantilisation, neglect and abuse. Improper worker induction. Poor communication. Workers treated badly by their employers — and as a result, treating her badly too. High turnover, which created its own cycle of disruption and trauma.
Most significantly: she was given no choice in who supported her. No say in who came into her home. No input in who touched her body.
She described this as “horrible torture.” Those are her words. I will not soften them.
This is not a fringe experience. Complaints about choice, worker consistency, and provider accountability are among the most common issues raised by NDIS participants across Australia.
How Sam Built a Life Through Self-Directed Support
It was only when Sam was able to engage her own unregistered support workers — people she chose carefully, from her own community — that things changed.
She got a clean home. She was able to maintain her personal hygiene with dignity. She ate properly. She was able to participate in her community.
She built a team of people who understood her needs, respected her identity, and showed up consistently.
For the first time in her experience of the NDIS, the scheme was actually working the way it was designed to work.
Why She Is Afraid Now
Sam is terrified that NDIS reforms — specifically cuts to funding and mandatory provider registration requirements — will force her back to a system that failed her.
If mandatory registration extends to all providers, the unregistered sole traders who form her carefully chosen team may no longer be able to support her under the NDIS. She would be back to the pool of registered providers that previously caused her harm.
She also raises a deeply concerning secondary issue. During the 2024 NDIS Amendments Bill public discussion, she was approached at her local shops by a member of the public who questioned the cost of her power wheelchair. She has experienced online hate targeting her disability since NDIS media coverage increased.
The NDIS reform debate is not happening in a vacuum. For people with disability — particularly those with visible, high-support needs — the public conversation carries real physical risk.
What the NDIA Said This Week
The National Disability Insurance Agency posted an update confirming that new framework planning — which involves a new support needs assessment process and budget method — has been delayed until 1 April 2027 following consultation with people with disability, families, carers, and advocates.
This is significant. It means:
- Current NDIS eligibility and planning policies remain in place
- Participants should continue accessing their existing supports
- There is time for the community to be heard in shaping what comes next
Holding Both Truths
Sam’s story does not argue that all registered providers are abusive. It does not argue that accountability in the NDIS is unnecessary. Fraud and exploitation by providers is real and has caused genuine harm.
But her story does argue — powerfully and from lived experience — that mandatory registration, if designed without nuance, can remove the very choice that makes the NDIS work for some of the most vulnerable participants.
The right to choose who enters your home is not a preference. For Sam, it was the difference between abuse and safety.
The right to build a team from your own community is not a luxury. For Sam, it was the foundation of her ability to eat, to be clean, and to participate in life.
These rights must not be casualties of reform.
What We Believe at Kinship Uniting Services
We are a registered NDIS provider. We believe registration and accountability matter — particularly for participants with high-intensity, complex support needs who are among the most vulnerable to exploitation and harm.
But we also believe that the NDIS was built on the principle of participant choice and control. That principle is not a slogan. It is the mechanism through which the scheme is supposed to work.
The reforms being designed right now must find a way to strengthen accountability without removing choice. To protect participants from bad providers without forcing them back to the system that already failed them.
Sam’s letter is a reminder of what is at stake when that balance is not found.
We serve NDIS participants across Colebee, Blacktown, The Ponds, Marsden Park, Schofields, Quakers Hill, Kellyville, Rouse Hill, Stanhope Gardens, Riverstone, Windsor and all Sydney suburbs.
If you need a registered provider who prioritises matching — who asks what you need before assuming — call us.
📞 0437 733 744 🌐 kinshipunitingservices.com 📍 39 Victory Rd, Colebee NSW 2761
Frequently Asked Questions
What is NDIS mandatory registration?
Mandatory registration would require all NDIS support workers and providers to be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Currently, self-managed participants can choose to use unregistered providers. Mandatory registration would remove this option. As of May 2026, new framework planning has been delayed to 1 April 2027.
Can NDIS participants currently use unregistered providers?
Yes — self-managed participants can currently choose unregistered providers. Plan-managed and agency-managed participants must use registered providers. The proposed changes would affect this distinction.
Why do some participants prefer unregistered workers?
Some participants — particularly those from LGBTQIA+ communities, culturally specific backgrounds, or those who have experienced abuse from registered providers — prefer to choose workers from their own community who understand their specific needs and identity.
What is happening with NDIS framework planning?
New framework planning — which includes a new support needs assessment process — has been delayed until 1 April 2027. Current NDIS plans and eligibility policies remain in place. Participants do not need to take immediate action.
How does Kinship approach participant choice?
Before any support begins, we have a detailed conversation with the participant and their family or care network to understand their specific needs, communication style, routine, preferences, cultural background, and goals. We then match one consistent worker — not the first available person.
Sources:
- Sam Petersen — open letter to MP | LinkedIn | May 2026
- National Disability Insurance Agency — framework planning update | ndis.gov.au
- Australian Government — Securing the NDIS for Future Generations | health.gov.au