Queensland's rules for providers, from registration with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission to worker screening clearances, blue cards for work with children and compulsory registration for supported independent living since 1 July 2026, are set out on our Brisbane NDIS provider page. They apply in Mackay without change, so this section sticks to the region.
The NDIA groups three councils into its Mackay service district. On 30 June 2026, Mackay Regional Council had 3,670 participants, up from 2,817 four years earlier, an increase of about 30%. The Whitsunday Region had 813, up from 588 (38%), and the Isaac Region 343, up from 218 (57%). Across the district there were 4,826 active participants.
Inside the Mackay council area, participants are spread out rather than concentrated. Andergrove – Beaconsfield (592), Eimeo – Rural View (390), Sarina (324) and Mount Pleasant – Glenella (301) had the most, followed by North Mackay (237), the Pioneer Valley (233), West Mackay (232) and South Mackay (220); the Mackay city area itself had 168. In the Whitsundays, Bowen, Airlie – Whitsundays and Proserpine each had between 230 and 251, and Collinsville 82. In Isaac, Moranbah had 159, Broadsound – Nebo 100 and Clermont 84.
Isaac is unlike the rest of the district. The ABS's June 2025 estimates put its median age at 35.1, with 129.6 males for every 100 females and only 8.4% of residents aged 65 or older; nationally the median age was 38.4 and 17.5% of people were 65 or older. Mackay's median age was 39.2 and the Whitsundays' 40.1. The district's participants are young too: children aged 8 or under make up 24.1% of them, against 20.4% across Queensland.
Hearing is the other figure that stands out. In June 2026, 294 participants in the district had a hearing impairment recorded as their primary disability, 6.1% against 4.2% statewide. The National Relay Service is free and confidential, and its relay officers convert voice to text and text to voice, or Auslan to English and back, so a site that lists a text number and an email address next to the phone number removes one obstacle. Plans in the district were mostly plan-managed (3,494), with 926 fully self-managed and 256 agency-managed. We're an Adelaide team and work with providers in the region by phone and email, and you see a complete draft before paying anything.