A National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provider was allowed to pocket over $1 million by incorrectly billing for personal training services. This single entity charged disabled Australians $193.99 an hour, nearly triple the government's recommended price. At least 4,000 other providers also incorrectly charged participants, according to federal government statements.
Profiteering at Public Expense
The scheme's "other professionals" service category, intended for qualified therapists delivering evidence-based supports, became a conduit for widespread surplus extraction. Unscrupulous providers submitted claims for a range of unapproved services. These included payments for decluttering, personal training, golf lessons, float tanks, and horse therapy. NDIS minister Jenny McAllister stated the government wanted every dollar to go to quality supports, adding, "Every dollar that goes somewhere else is a dollar wasted." Yet, the system allowed this waste to accumulate for years.
In the second year, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) explicitly banned billing for general fitness, recreational activities, or animal therapy. Despite this, an NDIA analysis of a 10,000-provider sample found 40 percent had been paid for services not allowed by NDIS rules under the "other professional" item. The agency has since raised debts against some providers and referred others to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The State's Austerity Agenda
The government has outlined three measures to address incorrect billing. In July, service categories were split into smaller, more specific units, ostensibly for easier agency oversight. The price cap for the "other professional" category was reduced from $194 to $156 as part of the annual pricing review. Officials claim this will reduce the incentive for "rorters" to exploit the category. A $350 million investment from this year's budget is also earmarked for a new digital payment system, alongside proposed amendments to the NDIS Act creating new investigative and enforcement powers.
However, these reforms serve a broader agenda. A bill proposed in May of the same year outlines plans for new powers for disability ministers, tightened eligibility requirements, automated decision-making, and anti-fraud measures. This overhaul of the NDIS aims to save $36 billion over four years. One measure, making the minister the sole decision-maker on pricing and fraud, is projected to save $900 million over that period, a mere 2.4 percent of the total targeted savings. The state's focus on "fraud" thus becomes a pretext for significant cuts to a scheme supporting over 774,000 participants, which now surpasses $50 billion annually.
Manufacturing Consent for Cuts
Megan Spindler-Smith, acting CEO of People with Disability Australia, acknowledged the additional oversight as positive, stating, "It's a good thing if providers are being held to account for what they're charging." She also highlighted the systemic failure, noting, "This shouldn't be happening in the first place." Shane Clifton, Director of the Centre for Disability Research and Policy at the University of Sydney, pointed out that fraud is not unique to the NDIS and that successive governments had failed to monitor the scheme adequately. He warned that the intense focus on fraud had undermined the NDIS, with the "disparagement" bouncing onto people with disability themselves.
The government's strategy for justifying these cuts was laid bare in the third year. The NDIA commissioned RedBridge to conduct focus groups, which revealed that people were more "amenable" to support cuts if "rorts, fraud and unreasonable pricing" were presented as an "existential threat" to the scheme. The report explicitly stated that participants had "strong resistance to any discussion of costs alone as a driver of reforms." This demonstrates how the narrative of individual bad actors is weaponized to dismantle collective resources, shifting the blame from systemic failures to the very people the system is meant to serve, while capital continues its extraction.