Anger is growing in Australia over rampant fraud plaguing the out-of-control National Disability Insurance Scheme, which is set to cost $100 billion by 2027 – more than the aged pension.
Dozens of fed-up Aussies responded to a post by X user Misha Saul on Sunday where he labelled the NDIS “the great rort on the Australian people”, with many sharing accounts of how they have personally seen the scheme being taken advantage of.
In his story Mr Saul described how a friend of his had a NSW property NDIS certified, and witnessed the certifier charging the maximum $18,500 allowable to add corner guards, before finding a young lady with depression to move in for three times the market rent, all courtesy of the taxpayer.
In a separate post he wrote: “One single catastrophic policy is sinking Australian productivity. All the rorts before – all the faux welfare, all the bludging, all the rackets in our ports and guilds, the fake race stuff, the fake ESG stuff – all leading to this Great Rort on a Hill.
“A giant bonfire of Australian wealth. A great nation reduced to degenerate parasites.”
NDIS STORY TIME
From a mate last night
Bought a property (not NSW). Step 1: get it NDIS certified.
The Certifier
Certifier rolls in – “I’m not like the others, I do things by the book”. Certifier only gets paid if issues certificate. He issues certificate – subject to… https://t.co/Quw9xUk5EQ— Misha Saul (@misha_saul) December 9, 2024
Mr Saul was soon swamped with replies and private messages, including one about a woman whose 18-year-old son with “multiple mental disabilities” is given $130,000 per year which “support workers” spend on toys, food, cinema tickets and babysitting fees.
Another said they had recently resigned from their role as an executive at a large NDIS support provider due to “large scale larceny”, saying the scheme was being rorted by providers and customers alike, and concluding that “in my mind the NDIS is singlehandedly destroying this country”.
“Neighbours living next door to my folks are NDIS recipients in a rented NDIS house – They have boxes of TVs and extra air conditioner units in the garage (apparently they break these often) also one tenant (who should be under 100% care) found his way into my folks’ garage pilfering nuts and bolts all while intimidating my mum,” wrote one X user.
“They are also peeping toms. All that can be done apparently is a police report, however no one is held to account. It pains me to see how much money is being squandered, how little oversight there is on budgets and what little shits the government seems to have on this very problem.”
“In my suburb there’s a guy with Down syndrome who has an NDIS budget of just under 600k annually. Every year there’s a fully funded international month-long holiday with carers, and he’s employing a lot of locals at rates that are twice the market rate for unskilled labour,” revealed another.
“I have a client in an NDIS house, cost $720,000. 4 rooms with 4 tenants. Each tenant pays $1600 per week from their NDIS plan PLUS $400 per week out of pocket to rent one bedroom. The house is staffed with one person 24 hours,” said a third.
Another response read: “Got one of these in the family. Claims depression, gets certificate, doesn’t work. Every six months there’s an assessment where someone says ‘Gee, not working, must still be disabled’. Pulling down multiples of median income from the state.”
“My ex-employer, a NDIS provider, owned the homes she rented to the clients she managed. She went from struggling single mum, to millionaire in 18 months. Net worth now, $$$$$$$ loaded,” said a different X user.
“My ex girlfriend’s ex husband on disability for anxiety/depression gets NDIS to clean his house. Yet he is renovating his home, mows his ex wife’s property, chops her trees down for firewood etc. but can’t clean his small unit,” said another.
Political consultant John Macgowan also weighed in on the issue on X, replying to a different post made by Mr Saul.
“It’s now reached the depth of social penetration where politicians can’t criticise it without shedding votes from the people on it,” he wrote.
“Only external criticism is possible. The papers can’t even touch it they get too much advertising gibs from it.”
The NDIS is set to cost taxpayers more than the aged pension within just over two years if current trends continue and Middle Eastern criminals are not stopped from committing large-scale fraud.
The current NDIS growth trajectory of 20% per year will see the scheme cost $100 billion by 2027, making it the largest area of government spending.
The NDIS already costs $42 billion a year, more than the aged care system on $36 billion, Medicare on $32 billion, and hospital federal funding on $30 billion.
About 2.6 million Australians are on the aged pension, and the NDIS has 660,000 participants.
The rapid growth in the NDIS has been attributed to a surge in child enrolments for autism and “developmental delay”, as well as widespread fraud, with 12% of boys and 6% of girls aged between 5 and 7 now participating.
18% of Australians (4.4 million people) are disabled, according to the most recent government data, and for 23% of those their main form of disability is mental or behavioural.
Another 22% of the population have a long-term health condition.
