The Albanese Labor Government has announced it will invest a further $48.3 million to fight fraud against the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The 2023-24 Budget will include $48.3 million to crack down on fraud and non-compliant payments by funding 200 National Disability Insurance Agency staff and developing 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 would 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 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 12.5 years in prison 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 access the Scheme with the promise of cash, vouchers, or gifts.
- Encouraging people to access the Scheme by faking medical evidence and diagnosis, with real medical evidence being changed or tampered with, falsely increasing a person’s NDIS budget.
- Claiming services that they never delivered.
- Hiding behind multiple (sometimes dozens) ABNs, false ABNs, fake identities, fake contact details, or IP addresses.
For more information, visit the NDIS website to read the Fraud Strategy Statement.
