‘Organised crime’: Department officials front National Disability Insurance Scheme inquiry

Organised crime exploiting the NDIS is part of a larger trend of criminals targeting government payment systems, a senior bureaucrat has revealed, ahead of a sweeping crackdown on those ripping off the taxpayer-funded scheme.

Health Minister Mark Butler said last week $15bn would be cut from the National Disability Insurance Scheme over the next four years under changes designed to crack down on “scheme inflation”.

The scheme, as it was, had become a target for rorting and “the worst elements of organised crime”, Mr Butler said.

Department officials and bureaucrats fronted the ongoing senate inquiry into the administration of the NDIS on Friday.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission was asked about the number of criminal networks it had assessed to have targeted the NDIS.

“We see a significant number of the more higher-end organised crime groups that are targeting Australia and targeting our community more broadly,” ACIC executive director, mission co-ordination and analysis Adam Meyer said.

“ … whether it’s within NDIS or beyond, in a range of other ways, either based offshore or have a presence offshore as part of their part of their network.

“ … That broader trend across all of that organised crime activity is also reflected through to exploitation of NDIS in terms of the types of networks or actors that may be involved, as it does relate to a range of other domains in which they operate.”

Mr Meyer said exploitation of the NDIS was one element of a larger business model that was increasingly targeting government payment systems.

“They are involved in a range of activities. NDIS is one,” he said.

“In some cases, it’s directly linked to the funding that they are obtaining through that they are recycling into other criminal activities.

“But in many cases, they’re not just targeting the NDIS. It’s part of their broader business model.”

Earlier, the National Disability Insurance Agency, responsible for administering the scheme, revealed the most common forms of misconduct in the scheme.

“What I would articulate is that those forms of noncompliance are ones that are reasonably detectable and statistically able to be validated,” NDIA deputy chief executive integrity transformation and technology Services John Dardo said.

“And they include examples of claims where, I mean, it’s quite easy to identify that they’re probably inconsistent with services that have been provided.

“So the service might not have been provided … It might be that the rates that have been charged are inconsistent with the period of the claim.

“So, for example, a provider is deliberately putting weekend rates instead of weekday rates.

“It might be that the claims are coming from problematic providers where we know that they’re unable to provide those types of services or don’t have a workforce to provide those services.

“And it could be claims where we are seeing rapid drawdown of funds that would be inconsistent with somebody being able to purchase or receive that service so quickly.”

More to come