Kylie Malaney

Intern at the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
Bachelor of Science (Health) and Master of Nursing

What's your job about?

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (the Commission) ensures NDIS supports are of a high quality and safe for people with disability. I am in the Regulatory Improvement Initiatives (RII) team which is part of the Regulatory Insights Policy and Review (RIPR) division. I have been tasked with writing an insights report on platform providers for people with psychosocial disability. A typical day would involve researching, looking at both internal and external documents, taking notes for and writing my report as well as attending meetings.

About you

Growing up and completing my education in Sydney, I pursued a Bachelor of Science Health and a Master of Nursing with the goal of becoming a nurse. My science degree provided me with a broad understanding of health and healthcare systems. This understanding was further enriched by my frontline experience as a student nurse, where I gained valuable insight into the issues within the system. Together, these experiences sparked a desire to address issues at their root cause and contribute to solutions on a larger scale. As a result, I was drawn to roles focused on shaping policy and enhancing systems at a broader level, which led me to pursue this internship at the Commission. I aim to apply the knowledge gained from my frontline experience, along with the broader perspective developed through my science degree, to my graduate role within the Australian Public Service in 2025, where I hope to continue addressing systemic issues and driving meaningful change.

What's the best thing about your job?

I love that my job allows me the freedom to design the insights report I am working on, as this is both exciting and challenging. I appreciate being assigned tasks where I feel like I am actively contributing to improving the safety and quality of life for people with disabilities. I also value the incredible culture, flexibility to choose my start and finish times, determine the length of my breaks, and decide where I want to work from.

Chelsea

Intern in the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Commission,
Regulatory Policy and Review Division

The Australian Nationally University

Undergraduate Double Degree Law and Politics,
Philosophy and Economics, 2027

What's your internship job about?

An example of a project I am working on is my ‘supported decision making’ paper, which is important to understand and implement to achieve these goals. To develop my skills, I am encouraged to use my research to form ideas and opinions on how to achieve these goals. I spent many weeks researching supported decision-making information and recommendations from NGOs and disability services to determine what I believed the Commission’s standpoint should be. This paper has gone to the Human Rights team, the Director of the Intergovernmental and Regulatory Policy team, and once I have received this feedback and worked on the paper, will go to specialists. This work could eventuate in being a guideline for providers and support workers to help facilitate choice and control for people living with disability. I received constant support and feedback from my supervisor in meetings and document comments that helped me to produce work that I believed in and was proud of.

What's your background?

I moved to Qatar in the Middle East where I lived for 7 years before moving to Australia. Moving around a lot as a kid taught me to be open to new experiences and new people. Every friend I grew up with in Qatar came from an entirely different background to me, which has taught me how to communicate and connect with people from all walks of life. I was an athlete in swimming until I was 19 years old. I swam full-time for a year from when I graduated high school to pursue my goal of representing Australia. Though I didn’t end up achieving that goal and left the sport at a relatively young age. Since retiring from the sport, I have focused on my other passions such as academia. I am now entering my fourth year of studying a double degree in Canberra. I am particularly interested and passionate about legal justice and reform for sentencing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. I have focused some of my university research on the impact of disability on First Nations peoples, which contributed to my interest in the internship at the NDIS Commission. I hope to work in remote communities in the Northern Territory for many years after I complete my degree.

What's the best thing about your job?

The best thing about my job is that every project I get given is met with a balance of challenging me and supporting me. At times, the content can be slightly difficult to process. The team I work with and people outside of my team extend their support and guidance to me and ensure that I know that there is someone around who will be able to help me if I need. The culture of the internship has been a ‘individual first’ approach- there is a focus on teaching an intern the balance of personal, academic and professional endeavours.

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Sam

Finance, Finance Graduate

The people I work with and the visibility of the impact that my work has on the commission. With the NDIS Commission being a federal agency, I have made a lot of new friends at the Commission all over Australia.

As we are still a new and growing agency, there are a lot of moving parts to the commission, and I came to find that even the most mundane daily tasks can impact multiple divisions within the Commission.

My Colleagues and Commission Leadership have been extremely supportive, approachable and accommodative with any of my concerns or queries no matter how big or small they were. The NDIS Commission has offices in different places all over Australia. The commission is also very accommodating to flexible work arrangements and has helped me achieve a balanced work-life schedule.

Bree Summerhayes

Intern at the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
Regulatory Policy Insights and Review Team

What's your job about?

As part of the RIPIR team, I focus on reviewing and analysing policies to ensure they effectively address participant needs. The NDIS Commission makes a real difference in the community by upholding the rights of NDIS participants to access quality and safe supports.

My role involves evaluating policy frameworks, analysing their impact, and recommending improvements. A recent project I worked on examined Supported Disability Accommodation (SDA) standards to ensure they align with participant preferences and quality expectations.

This role is exciting because it allows me to blend my passion for occupational therapy with systemic advocacy, creating meaningful change for individuals and communities.

About you

I am a proud Indigenous woman from the Biripi tribe. My drive to support others inspired me to pursue a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy where I have gained valuable knowledge and skills to support individuals with diverse needs. My Journey to the NDIS Commission began through Careertrackers, a program dedicated to empowering indigenous students by connecting them with professional opportunities. NDIS Commission, and their mentorship and guidance helped me transition into the impactful role. Interning with an organisation focusing on disability services helped me understand how policy shapes outcomes for individuals. My current role allows me to apply the knowledge I’ve gained to influence policy and improve services. This journey has been shaped by my commitment to advocating for independence, quality of life, and choice for people with disabilities.

What's the best thing about your job?

The coolest part of my job is seeing and knowing that the work I do directly impacts individuals living with disabilities lives. For example, working on a project that reshaped SDA standards to make homes more accessible and aligned with participant needs was incredibly rewarding. Knowing that my work contributes to positive, long-term outcomes for individuals inspires me every day.

Dylan

Contact Centre Officer at the NDIS Quality
and Safeguards Commission

What's your job about?

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission’s Policy insight division team looks at data, cases and events from the findings of the Royal Commission. I took the information and a summary of the events, this allows the Policy team to take the findings and put in it a report reflecting further intervention for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on the NDIS.

What's your background?

After finishing an apprenticeship, I retrained in Community Services and become a Support worker which I did for 3.5 years. In 2019 I enrolled in Open Foundation program through Newcastle University and went onto complete my bachelor’s in social science majoring in Sociology and anthropology in 2022. I was approached by CareerTrackers who specialise in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students getting into the corporate workforce. This allowed me to gain professional work experience at the NDIS Commission through an Internship program with the Policy Insights division, which then led on a fulltime role in at the NDIS Commission contact centre, my current role.

My role requires that I look at multiple different resources and websites to provide information and educating people who need to access the various NDIS portals and databases. The best thing about my job is helping the community by assisting a callers, It's a wonderful feeling when I’m able help resolve the callers issue. This reminds me that the role I’m in is important for our community, particularly for people living with disability.

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