The Albanese Labor Government will invest a further $48.3 million to fight fraud against the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
$48.3 million in the 2023-24 Budget will be used to crack down on fraud and non-compliant payments by funding 200 National Disability Insurance Agency staff and the development of a business case for ICT systems to detect, prevent and reduce non-compliant payments.
Minister for NDIS and Government Services the Hon. Bill Shorten MP said the funding was critical to ensure every dollar of the scheme was going to support people with a disability.
“We have found evidence of egregious fraud that involves complex criminal networks ripping off NDIS participants and Australian taxpayers,” Minister Shorten said.
“This funding will ensure the agency has the capability to address fraud and non-compliance.
“For almost 10 years we watched on as successive Liberal governments left the NDIS back door open to criminals. Labor established the Fraud Fusion Taskforce in October 2022 to stop the rorts.
“The Taskforce is already investigating multiple criminal syndicates, some handling tens of millions in NDIS funds.
“Many have drawn down millions of dollars in funding from hundreds of participants.
“People ripping off the NDIS are going to prison. In the past 12 months, fraudsters have been sentenced to a combined 12.5 years in prison time for ripping off the scheme.
Syndicates being investigated have been caught:
- Targeting vulnerable people with false information about how the Scheme works and how they can spend their funds.
- Recruiting vulnerable people to gain access to the Scheme with the promise of cash or vouchers or gifts.
- Encouraging people to access the Scheme by faking medical evidence and diagnosis, with real medical evidence being changed or tampered with to falsely increase a person’s NDIS budget.
- Claiming for services that they never delivered.
- Hiding behind multiple (sometimes dozens) of ABNs or false ABNs or fake identities, or fake contact details or fake addresses.