NDIS Funding and Fraud is Overtaking Dollars for Defence
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding could outstrip defence.
Defence spending estimates for the current year are at AU$56 billion, with NDIS currently running at a staggering AU$44.3 billion.
For perspective, the NDIS’ projected costs are set to hit $60 billion by 2027-2028.
Defence may hit $67 billion at the same time, if the Labor government’s National Defence Strategy (NDS) lives beyond the next election.
By comparison:
There are 82,000 Australians serving in the ADF (Source: ABS)
There are 650,000 NDIS ‘participants’ — they don’t use the words patient or client. (Source: NDIS)
Escalating Costs
NDIS ‘participants’ increased from 549,655 in August 2022 to just under 650,000 in March 2024.
That’s a whopping 100,345 rise in total dependents within an 18-month period.
The Australian Financial Review reports that by 2032, NDIS ‘participants’ will hit 1 million.
2034 funding forecasts for the 2013 — Gillard government era — program, lands in the $125-billion-dollar range.
This is well above the ADF’s $97 billion projected costs for the same time period.
Peta Credlin broke news about similar concerns last year.
The Sky News host quoted former head of the Productivity Commission Gary Banks, who described the NDIS as a ‘fiscal sinkhole’.
In an April 2024 explosive exclusive, Banks told The Australian Financial Review,
‘The Productivity Commission got it wrong when it recommended the creation of the NDIS.’
Australian taxpayers are now paying more for the Gillard Government’s 2013 National Disability Insurance Scam than the scheme was intended to support.
What seemed like a good idea at the time has ballooned into a tax burden.
Try as governments might to reform, reduce, and remove funding, both the LNP and Labor will have a tough time selling austerity.
For example, in 2022 the Morrison government met ‘fierce resistance from disability advocates’ when they tried to corral the run-away cash cow.
The Australian Financial Review also said at the time, an LNP assessment model was ditched after a clash with the Labor-run state governments.
Labor defended the NDIS by dismissing warnings in 2021 about funding blowouts, calling them ‘rubbery figures’.
The current Labor line-up also threatened to ‘fight any attempt to rein in the program.’
Now, those same Labor politicians are in backflip mode.
Facing Reality
Anthony Albanese and his administration have conceded that NDIS’ current trajectory is not sustainable.
As a result, Labor is cutting funding, and the “I heart NDIS” activists are not happy.
With a looming election, Labor can no longer ignore the cost blowouts, and rampant reports of NDIS fraud.
In June, the ABC reported that the system was being gamed.
According to “NDIS minister” Bill Shorten, ‘There are over 500 investigations, and 20 prosecutions underway.’
‘Among the instances of fraud included drugs, a $20,000 holiday, and a $73,000 car.’
NDIS also funds prostitution.
A practice soon to end, if Labor’s backflip on not touching the NDIS golden goose endures and reforms pass.
It is worth noting that participation in the ADF is on the decline.
Whereas ‘participants’ in the NDIS scheme are on a sharp, upward incline.
It is clear that governments are spending more on recruiting for the NDIS than they are for the ADF.
Most Australians know about NDIS; I doubt many know about the NDS (National Defence Strategy).
Over half a million Australians are either hooked on, or hooked into, the “I heart NDIS” hand-outs.
As The Spectator Australia’s editor-in-chief Rowan Dean warned,
‘Let this sink in: under Labor and the Teals, more of your tax dollars are going towards the NDIS (famous for financing holidays, hookers, drugs and booze) than on the defence of this nation under AUKUS.’
Let this sink in: under Labor & the Teals more of your tax dollars are going towards the NDIS (famous for financing holidays, hookers, drugs and booze) than on the defence of this nation under AUKUS
— Rowan Dean (@rowandean) July 30, 2024
Reforming the NDIS – or disbanding it altogether – isn’t about putting defence before the disabled.
This is about making sure the disabled are properly defended.
Without the ADF, there is no NDIS.
___
Image courtesy of Adobe.
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In spite of all the rhetoric and the self vested interests, this is not about looking after the disabled. It was clear to me from day one, that NDIS was going to be a disaster. How do I know this. I was involved in corporate governance for 15 years in the Commonwealth programs area and all the warning signs were there from the beginning. I also run a NFP assisting people in need. I have come across cases of a provider having only one person in a 3 bedroom dwelling and others NDIS participants planning trips on cruise liners. The system needs to be scrapped and the appropriate oversight put in place. The fraud is so rampart the current oversight has stated they can not prosecute everyone rorting the system as there are too many. Wake up and start looking at the real needs of the disable.
The fraud must be stamped out harshly because these criminals are profiting by depriving their disabled clients of the full amount of the benefits they are entitled to . To argue otherwise , ie to leave these criminals unpunished because punishment is “un-Christian ” is stupid and illegal. So, should someone who steals your car or scams your savings be left unpunished because it is “un-Christian ” ? What sort of Logic is that? To leave them unpunished is to allow these criminals to continue to defraud their unfortunate clients is to turn a blind eye to all forms of criminal behaviour as has been happening for many decades to the marginalised Aborigines who do not receive the benefits intended for them which are being defrauded by the elites to fund their fancy lifestyles . Many years ago Minister Amanda Vanstone got ATSIC abolished to stop the rorting, but, the Bleeding Hearts lobbied and the fraud continues with no benefit to the marginalised Aborigines who are still dirt poor !
That’s a great and loving article Rod.
It is a very important article because it encourages thoughts and debate about NDIS, and socialist policies in general. I do not believe that NDIS is enabling participants to rise to t the point where they contribute more to the system than they benefited, and with the continuing growth in participants it is a never ending black hole that Australia should not be supporting.