Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

On Sunday afternoon, every MP was emailed a video by investigative journalists Pete Z and Drew Pavlou on NDIS fraud. They investigated suburbs with high numbers of NDIS providers. In some buildings, there were multiple shopfronts with padlocked doors and no operational phone numbers or websites. A whistleblower cleaner stated that many providers charge participants for a minimum of two hours for just 30 minutes of cleaning or less, and that providers double the charge when two participants in the one property are both receiving NDIS funding. This is a rort. The NDIS states that a provider cannot charge a participant for more time than is actually booked for support delivered.

The journalists booked an Airbnb unit, a little studio, for an NDIS clean. Help in Support cleaners stayed for just 25 minutes. They brought no equipment, they used the unit's tissues and they gave a very poor clean. They invoiced for two hours—$236 for that 25 minutes, where $116.60 was for cleaning and $120 was for labour costs. The provider stated that auditors advised them to charge a minimum of two hours, as required under NDIS rules. That is not correct. Upon being confronted, the provider changed the invoice from $236 down to $24. Further investigations showed a banned provider allegedly reappearing in the same location with the same phone number and same accountant. M&F Disability Services was closed due to fraud. Their registration was revoked and they were served a lifetime ban from providing NDIS services. Now operating in the same location with the same phone number and using the same accountant is Sunny Days Care. When Drew and Pete asked staff if the business was in any way connected to or using the same accountant as M&F Disability Services, they were threatened. They were assaulted and called retarded. It's on the film. This was sent to all of us. We should all be watching this.

The NDIS is supposed to be an important social service that provides reform and a change of life for people living with disability. It's not supposed to be a bottomless pit of funding to be exploited by some providers. We're going to see, in the 2028-29 year, $63 billion in funding. There is so much to say about this. I would just like to say that Pete and Drew have done an exceptional job in exposing this one element of potential fraud in the NDIS. The NDIS fraud chief, in recent Senate estimates, said 10 per cent of NDIS claims are potentially fraudulent. This is $5 billion a year. The government must investigate this now.

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