Last updated 1 June 2025

A person affected by a decision of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) can ask for a review of that decision if it is reviewable. All decisions that are reviewable are listed in s 99 of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth) (NDIS Act).

A decision to refuse a person access to the scheme, to revoke a person’s status as a participant, to not vary an impairment notice and a decision to approve a participant’s statement of supports are all reviewable decisions (items 1, 3, 3A and 4 of s 99 of the NDIS Act).

There are two stages of review:

  • internal review (sometimes referred to as a s 100 NDIS Act review)
  • external review (to the Administrative Review Tribunal).

Although there are no costs associated with pursuing either an internal or external review, time limits apply.

Internal review

Under s 100 of the NDIS Act, a person affected by a reviewable decision of the NDIA can ask for an internal review of the decision over the phone, by email, by letter or by completing an internal review application form.  For more information about the process of requesting an internal review, visit the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) website.

Requests for internal review must be lodged within three months of a person receiving the notice of the decision with which they are dissatisfied.

It is important that a person seeking review is clear about the nature of their request.  That is, they should state that they are seeking ‘a section 100 internal review of a reviewable decision’ and explain why they are seeking the review (e.g. they do not agree with the NDIA decision to refuse to grant them access to the NDIS, or they do not agree with the NDIA decision to refuse to fund certain supports). This will help to minimise the chances of the person’s request for an internal review being mischaracterised as a complaint about the NDIA’s processes.

The NDIA must complete the internal review generally within 90 days of receiving the review request (s 100(6A)(b) NDIS Act). The internal review decision will be in writing and in that decision the NDIA will either confirm (agree with the original decision), vary or set aside and substitute a new decision (s 100(6) NDIS Act).

External review

Under s 103 of the NDIS Act, a person who does not agree with the outcome of their internal review can ask for an external review of the decision at the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART).  A request for external review must be lodged within 28 days of a person receiving the notice of the NDIA’s internal review decision. A request lodged outside of this 28-day time period may only be accepted where a person can provide good reasons for their delay.

Where a person has not received an outcome to their request for an internal review from the NDIA within the prescribed period, an internal review decision will have been deemed to have been made under s 16 of the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024 (Cth) (ART Act) and the person may apply for an external review in the ART. See NNXF and National Disability Insurance Agency [2019] AATA 5552 (23 December 2019), in which the ART determined that it has jurisdiction to determine certain applications where an internal review decision may be deemed to have been made.

For information about the process of requesting an external review, which may be lodged online, or via letter or application form, visit the Administrative Review Tribunal website. The application is free and the process relatively straight forward.

An external review by the ART is a ‘hearing de novo’, which means that the ART will look at a person’s case afresh and consider all the material, including new material filed by an applicant and/or the NDIA, to determine the person’s case. This is important for applicants to be aware of in a review of decision to approve a statement of supports in their NDIS plan as the ART may review all supports within the plan, even where an applicant is only seeking review of one particular support (see Gabriela and Chief Executive Officer, National Disability Insurance Agency [2024] AATA 741 and YBLR and National Disability Insurance Agency [2023] AATA 1472 (at [14])).

External review applications usually involve the following steps once an application has been lodged:

  • Provision of T-documents—all the documents that are in the NDIA’s possession that are relevant to the review should be collated by the NDIA and filed in the ART and provided to the applicant. These should be sent within 28 days of the NDIA becoming aware of the application (s 23 of ART Act).
  • Case conference—the ART will schedule a case conference, which is an informal meeting, usually held by phone but can also occur by video conference or in person at a ART registry office, if requested. At the case conference, the parties discuss whether an agreement can be reached and, if not,  prepare a to-do list for the progress of the external review application. To-dos may require an applicant to file further evidence, and the NDIA to consider and respond to that evidence by set dates before the listing of a further case conference.
  • Conciliation—a conciliation is usually held after two or three case conferences and prior to a final hearing. A longer period of time is allocated by the ART for conciliations (usually two to three hours), and the parties are expected to attend ready to try to resolve the application by agreement.
  • Directions hearing—this hearing is held prior to a final hearing for the purpose of preparing a timetable for the progress of a case to a hearing.
  • Final hearing—the applicant and the NDIA present arguments in support of their case and can call witnesses to give evidence to the ART member(s).

Most commonly, external review applications resolve by agreement between the applicant and the NDIA (s 103 ART Act) without the need for the ART to determine the matter at a final hearing. In all cases, the ART will issue a decision either confirming, varying or setting aside and substituting a new decision once a matter is determined (either by agreement reached between the parties or as a result of a final hearing).

In reviews of decisions concerning funded NDIS supports where a higher level of support is approved and an applicant has either spent their own funds on the support or has outstanding invoices for the support, the applicant can seek reimbursement or payment, respectively, for the support accessed from the date of the original NDIS plan under review (see Williamson and National Disability Insurance Agency [2019] AATA 2944 (at [25]) and Johnstone and National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIS) [2025] ARTA 106 (at [262–263]).

Model litigant rules and complaints

In cases where a person is concerned about the NDIA’s conduct in review proceedings, it may be helpful for the person to raise the requirement of the NDIA to comply with the ‘model litigant rules’ with the NDIA directly. The NDIA, as a Commonwealth Government agency is required to comply with these rules, which set standards for conduct of NDIA staff and its lawyers, and are found in Appendix B to the Legal Services Directions 2017.

Complaints about the NDIA may be made directly to the NDIA (via email: feedback@ndis.gov.au) or to the Commonwealth Ombudsman. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission receives and investigates complaints against service providers.

In addition, in Queensland, complaints may be made about registered NDIS service providers under the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) (Human Rights Act), where the complainant considers that the provider has acted or made a decision in a way that is not compatible with human rights or, in making a decision, the provider has failed to consider a human right that is relevant to the decision (s 58 Human Rights Act). Complaints that progress to the Queensland Human Rights Commission may be referred by the Human Rights Commissioner to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (s 73 Human Rights Act).  For more information about the right to complain and the complaint-making process visit the Queensland Human Rights Commission website.