Labor wants an inquiry to hear fresh evidence of fraud in the $50 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme as it builds a case for stricter rules and tighter spending on the scheme in the May budget.
NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister made the rare move of writing to one of parliament’s joint committees on Monday with a request that it investigate the extent of fraud and non-compliance in the scheme – as well as ways to fix it.
McAllister’s request follows a string of charges laid against people who have defrauded the NDIS, with three people prosecuted in Melbourne last week for different examples of fraud.
One man was sentenced to three years’ jail for abusing his position as an employee at a disability services company, giving the details of 90 NDIS participants to another dodgy provider and sharing in $190,000 that they gained by making fraudulent claims.
A 55-year-old Melbourne woman was sentenced to two years and six months’ jail, after agencies determined she was the main offender in a syndicate that defrauded taxpayers about $800,000. She misused NDIS funds to purchase a home.
Another 60-year-old Melbourne woman was sentenced to three years’ jail after targeting disabled people from Melbourne’s Turkish and Arabic-speaking communities who spoke little to no English. She pleaded guilty to 14 counts of making fraudulent payment requests against the plans of six NDIS participants, and was ordered to repay the government $296,000.
The charges were laid following investigations by the National Disability Insurance Agency’s fraud fusion taskforce, which was established by former minister Bill Shorten in his attempts to clean up the scheme.
Labor moved again to beef up penalties for dodgy NDIS providers late last year, putting new laws before the Senate that will increase fines and introduce fresh powers to stop ads that make false claims about how people can use funding.
But McAllister’s request on Monday suggests the government wants to go even further in its crackdown. She and Health Minister Mark Butler, the senior NDIS minister, were appointed to the portfolio after Shorten quit politics and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reshuffled his cabinet following last year’s election.
With the scheme forecast to surpass $100 billion in a decade, Butler has said urgent improvements to discipline and integrity would be the most essential actions to deliver cost savings. He flagged in the middle of last year that he wanted to bring spending growth down to 5 or 6 per cent by the end of the four-year forward estimates. Annual growth was 10.3 per cent at the end of December.
This masthead has since reported that the government is considering applying the new growth target of 5 to 6 per cent even sooner, incorporating it into this year’s budget forecasts to reap savings as Treasurer Jim Chalmers looks to cut spending.
Sources said the government also believed it must do more to weed out fraud so that the scheme retains its social license while delivering on outcomes for its 760,000 participants.
McAllister has asked the committee, chaired by Labor MP Libby Coker, to report into the nature and extent of non-compliance in the NDIS, including fraud, and the impact this has on families. She also wants the committee to scrutinise how effective policies have been to date in improving integrity and protecting participants from harm.
As part of its work, the committee will be asked to propose new laws or other reforms that will improve the scheme’s integrity. McAllister has asked it to report back by June 19.
Parliamentary committees, made up of MPs from across the political spectrum, exist to scrutinise government policies and proposed laws through inquiries. They seek submissions and hear expert testimony before producing reports with recommendations.
Senate inquiries are often proposed by opposition or crossbench MPs, but the government may also commission probes from lower house committees to generate public debate, flesh out policy ideas or lay groundwork for changes.
McAllister said her request of the joint parliamentary committee was about “shining a light on the fraudsters and crooks who think they can get away with stealing from people with a disability, and from Australian taxpayers”.
“We are laser focused on cracking down on NDIS fraud,” she said. “The committee has representation from both the house and the senate. It is exactly the right forum to examine issues that go to the heart of the NDIS’s integrity.”
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