I have many clients on the NDIS for psychosocial disability and my partner worked as a support worker for a small time. On multiple occasions the supports have been used solely to transport to known drug houses, for lifts to the bottle shop and to go buy chocolate milk or smokes from the store. They are more than capable of doing this themselves but why walk when someone will drive you for free? Multiple occasions of clients using their drug dealer as the support worker, and in exchange for the dealer getting their x hours of money from the NDIS, the client would get drugs for free. Others have their cousin, aunt, sister be their “support worker”, then they split the money in half. There is no oversight. The system is an absolute joke.

NDIS participant here. Yep, there are many rorts. Here are some I’ve experienced: 1. quoted $1600 to mow a townhouse lawn the size of a double bed 2. support coordinators billing for 3xhrs @ $90 an hour to submit a form to the NDIA 3. respite care place charging $1900 a day for being locked in a room, no key given to ‘participants’ 4. people with no experience or qualifications billing $67 an hour to do simple tasks, Eg fold washing 5. family businesses employing grandparents, nieces etc, all without qualifications 6. former support workers putting in bills through the app (no oversight) months after ceasing work ($1560) 7. exercise physiologists charging $166 an hour for supervising an exercise session, supposedly to ‘write reports’ at this high rate. Yet they bill for 2hrs every time a report is required. These are never more than two paragraphs 8. ‘respite’ service using excess hotel inventory, usually $220 a night yet under NDIS over $1000 a night 9. support workers charging $67 an hour plus $1 a km to drive places. One appt I have is about 45 mins away , and on a Saturday. It is nearly $500 for an unqualified person to drive me there, wait, and drive me back. 10. support coordinator agency billing over $2k while I was in hospital (not using supports). When queried, they refunded most of it and ceased services immediately support worker submitting claim for $300 for mileage, no log book, just an even $300. Suss.

Know an allied health worker. Pre NDIS doing OK, working as a TA on the side to get along. Post NDIS, he's flat out. Fees increased by several times. He's raking it in. Bought big house to use as a clinic. He's not rorting the system. It's that the NDIS is way overly generous. He's just going along for the ride. Do not blame the providers for a dumb system. I am stunned at how wealthy Australia is. It has to be to fund this incredibly generous system. It's just the rest of us have to pay.

I gave the NDIS physical proof of fraudulent charges which were multiple thousands of dollars a month. They even charged for gardening and they don't even have a yard fitting of a garden. It's pretty ridiculous. I wrote to the royal commission and the minister. They don't care and don't do shit. It's been years and nothing has changed.

9 out of 10 plans I see daily have misuse or outright fraud. If it's not the participants/family it's the providers. The participants who truly need funding, can't get it and the fraudsters keep the funds flowing ,unchecked. This could all be fixed but bafflingly the NDIS chooses not to . The scheme is not sustainable and unless major changes are made it won't be here in a few years.

my neighbour does personal training for ndis clients and brags how she charges $275 an hour

I cancelled a Speech appointment 3 days prior to appointment as soon as I found out I had covid. She tried to charge me for it. Then a week later did a fake oh we have an appointment tomorrow. Umm we don’t but lucky I am free. She cancelled that an hour before due to gastro. Mind you it was her 3rd time cancelling on me an hour before due to gastro. Five minutes later I get a phone call from my planned manager that the speech said she is cancelling all future appointments if the covid cancelled appointment is not paid. Some are just unethical to with charging.