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Organised Crime in the NDIS
Nick McKenzie and Amelia Ballinger The Age
Australia’s most senior criminal intelligence official says organised criminals involved in drug trafficking, violence and money laundering are exploiting systemic weaknesses in the National Disability Insurance Scheme to rort it on an unprecedented scale. In an extraordinary intervention into the national debate, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission chief Michael Phelan has called for a new multi-agency taskforce to tackle the problem, which diverts critical funds away from some of the nation’s most vulnerable people. Phelan cites intelligence that reveals disabled Australians have been extorted, threatened with violence or even involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric ward by crime syndicates seeking to steal their NDIS entitlements. “It just sickens you,” said Phelan. “This is not a victimless crime. You’ve got to wonder how far down the scumbag scale you get before you start ripping off our most vulnerable people.” The NDIS is a non-means-tested universal insurance program offering uncapped packages of support to people with serious disabilities, but Phelan estimates that as much as 15% to 20% of the $30 billion it costs a year might be being misused. Phelan described previous estimates that scheme fraud sits at 5% as “conservative”. The scheme is estimated to grow to $60 billion by 2030. An investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes has found members of Sydney’s notorious Hamzy crime network have infiltrated the NDIS. A crime boss and drug trafficker based in both Queensland and Victoria has been trying to develop properties to lease to the scheme.
Pointing to inadequate scrutiny of the scheme, Phelan said the extent of rorting easily surpassed that of the pink batts and school halls scandals and involved “fair dinkum, serious and organised crime crooks”. “When they’re not rorting the NDIS, they’re importing drugs or standing over people, extortion, committing other heinous crimes,” he said. “North of $1 billion is being ripped out of the system.” The crime-fighting boss said his agency had detected “ghosting”, or the creation of fake NDIS clients, the systemic inflating of invoices, payment for services that are never provided and networks of facilitators, including doctors, pharmacists, training facilities, accountants and lawyers, who help criminals exploit the scheme. Asked whether Labor would back Phelan’s call for a taskforce, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said: “It’s definitely got to be an idea on the table.
