Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on a matter of significant and growing concern across my community and across Australia. Recently, every single one of us in this place was sent a video that should make every Australian furious. It exposes what is happening right now in the NDIS—not theory, not spin but reality.

Investigative journalists Pete Z and Drew Pavlou went into suburbs packed with NDIS providers—and what they found should shock this parliament. Drew and Pete were threatened, assaulted and called 'retarded'. In one case, a provider banned for fraud—shut down and stripped of registration—reappeared in the same location with the same phone number under a different name. In another case, Pete and Drew booked a simple studio clean. The cleaner stayed 25 minutes. They brought no equipment and they used tissues from the unit. Then Pete and Drew were sent an invoice for two hours—$236 for 25 minutes. Only when confronted on camera did that invoice shrink to $24.

How on earth is this happening? This is not care; this is an absolute racket. And, while this is happening, families are having their plans quietly cut. Participants are being told to do more with less, and providers that are doing the right thing are being squeezed to breaking point.

When I speak to the hardworking local physiotherapists or OTs on the southern Gold Coast, it absolutely crushes my heart. These therapists might only be able to bill for two hours, but then they're smashed with six hours worth of paperwork and reporting, a cost that they must absorb themselves. It is ridiculous that those doing the right thing, providing tangible, life-changing support, are hit harder than the fraudulent providers who we've seen absolutely rorting the system.

The government says it's protecting the NDIS. How can this be, when up to 10 per cent of claims—that is, $5 billion a year—may be fraudulent. That is not protection; that is neglect. Every dollar stolen is a dollar taken from someone who genuinely needs support. So before this government cuts one more plan, it should start by doing the one thing it has failed to do—cut the fraud, clean up the system and restore integrity to the NDIS. Australians with disability deserve better than this, and, frankly, so do the taxpayers who are funding it.