A police taskforce to hunt down organized crime groups exploiting the National Disability Insurance Scheme will be established by the government in coming weeks, the NDIS Minister says.
Key points:
Australia’s criminal intelligence agency believes billions are being defrauded from the NDIS
Organized crime groups have allegedly infiltrated the disability scheme
A police taskforce will be established to expose the fraudsters
An investigation by Nine newspapers has alleged members of the Hamzy and Alameddine crime groups in Sydney and other organized criminal gangs have been rorting billions of dollars from the NDIS scheme.
The head of the Criminal Intelligence Commission, Michael Phelan, told Nine newspapers that criminals were systemically “ripping off our most vulnerable people.”
Mr Phelan said there was evidence of criminals creating fake clients, skimming money, exploiting and intimidating clients and using pharmacy employees as “spotters” to find new NDIS clients to target.
Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission boss Michael Phelan says organized crime groups have infiltrated the NDIS.(AAP: Mick Tsikas)
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten gave a scathing assessment, as he announced a multi-agency taskforce would be established to track down fraudsters.
“I think they’re literally gutless cowards,” Mr Shorten told Nine this morning.
“They may think they’re tough, some of these organized crime people. They may boast themselves amongst how clever they are.
“The rest of Australia despises this. And what we’re going to do is make sure that the NDIS is only for the people who need it.”
Mr Shorten said he had warned the former government of massive fraud in the scheme.
He said he suspected there was exploitation and coercion by criminal gangs, but also that there may be people unconnected to organized crime who were padding bills and “robbing the scheme”.
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten is deriding the ‘cowards’ exploiting the most-vulnerable members of the community.(ABC News: Nicholas Haggarty)
The minister said there must be more due diligence on the invoices of people claiming to have provided services.
“It’s a mystery to me why different parts of government don’t talk to each other better … I’m not satisfied there is sufficient communication between the National Disability Insurance Agency, the tax office, policing. It shouldn’t be this way, but it is,” Mr Shorten told ABC Radio.
“And I don’t understand why more hasn’t been done earlier.”
NDIS anti-fraud teams have recovered a small portion of the alleged billions that have been defrauded from the scheme, charging 18 people since 2020 with a total of about $14 million in alleged fraud.
Tens of thousands of fraudulent flood assistance claims have been made this year, with more than $10 million dollars in support denied.
Key points:
There have been 3.5 million claims for flood support between February 28, 2022 and July 31, 2022
There have been more than 27,770 claims that have raised suspicions
More than 793 criminal investigations have been launched into suspected fraudulent claims
Payments have been offered to people impacted by floods in New South Wales and South-East Queensland in February and the recent Sydney floods in July.
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten has raised concerns that, while money is being offered to those who need it, others are taking advantage of the system.
“I believe that the taxpayer-funded safety net needs to go to those who need it and it really makes my blood boil when I think that there are some people out there taking advantage of other people’s misery to steal $1,000,” he said.
“What is going on with people? How can people think like that?”
The support on offer includes the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment of $1,000 per adult and $400 per child, as well as the Disaster Recovery Allowance which provides 13 weeks of support at the rate of the JobSeeker allowance.
About 3.5 million claims have been made for assistance between February and July following the floods.
Bill Shorten says it is important fraudulent claims are detected. (ABC News: Nick Haggarty/File)
Of those, there have been 27,770 cases that appear to be suspicious and about $10.5 million in support has been denied.
Mr Shorten said it was important that all fraudulent claims were picked up by the system.
“I’m very mindful that this is taxpayer money and I’m mindful that taxpayers are happy to help their fellow Australians in trouble,” he said.
“But they do expect government agencies to be as careful as they can separating the legitimate from the illegitimate.”
Mr Shorten said he was concerned there had been, or could still be, opportunistic behavior that was “robbing” from flood victims.
“I’m asking Services Australia: ‘Are we catching everyone?'” he said.
“I want to make sure that our detection systems for fraud are what they should be, and anything other than that undermines public confidence in the provision of support for victims.”
He said there were now 793 criminal investigations underway.
More than $1 billion has been handed out to Australians this year in flood support.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Probe finds lead emergency agencies failed in flood response.(ABCNews)
The family of a disabled man who died after spending more than four months in hospital waiting for accommodation have described the National Disability Insurance Scheme and aged care system in Australia as “broken”.
Key points:
The family of a disabled man who died waiting for accommodation are fighting for change
Advocates say there are more than 1,000 NDIS participants “stuck” in hospital.
The NDIS Minister says the government has taken “immediate action” to understand the situation
Mitchell Pearce, 52, died on Saturday in hospice care, little more than a day after NDIS Minister Bill Shorten ordered the agency to find him appropriate accommodation as a “matter of urgency.”
His sister Justine Richmond said her brother died peacefully surrounded by people who loved him.
Mr Pearce had been in Busselton Hospital since March 29.
His family said Mr Pearce, who was disabled since suffering brain tumors as a child, had lost the will to live in hospital, and refused to eat or drink.
Vow to keep fighting
While it was too late for her brother, Mrs Richmond urged people to keep speaking up for change.
Mr Pearce’s sister Mrs Richmond, left, and mother Judith Pearce want people to speak up and bring about structural change to the NDIS.(ABC South West: Georgia Loney)
She said since the family’s story came out on Friday she had been inundated with people wanting to share their experiences.
The family had been told there while there was no nearby supported disability accommodation for Mr Pearce, at 52, he was considered too young for an aged care facility.
“Now that he’s died, you might think well, there’s no point in fighting,” Mrs Richmond said.
“But I feel like there is, because there are still people [in hospital].”
Mrs Richmond said the family was told he would have had to be “released” from the NDIS to be considered for admission to a nearby nursing home.
“I just feel like these boxes are rigid around numbers,” she said.
“I understand that there are a lot of people with disabilities who have struggled not to have young people with disabilities put into nursing homes.
“But there are people who are 65 who can’t apply for the NDIS, while there are people like Mitchell, who at 52, probably would have benefited from being in aged care.”
Thousands in the same predicament
Research from the Summer Foundation found more than 1,000 NDIS participants were effectively stuck in hospital in Australia, with 20 per cent of those unable to be discharged because of a lack of suitable destinations.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) said last week they acknowledged the exceptionally difficult challenges faced by Mr Pearce, and finding suitable disability housing in regional Australia could be difficult.
Last week, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten described Mr Pearce’s situation as “heartbreaking”.
He said the former Liberal Government, had “through its neglect and mismanagement of the NDIS” overseen a backlog of thousands of NDIS participants languishing in hospital beds, without disability supports.
“The Albanese Government has taken immediate action to understand the cause of delays supporting eligible NDIS participants that prevent fast and safe discharge from hospital,” he said.
“People with disability should be able to leave hospital as quickly and safely as possible, into suitable accommodation.”
The family of a disabled man who has spent more than four months in a Western Australian hospital waiting for supported housing has described navigating the National Disability Insurance Scheme as “heartbreaking”.
Key points:
Mitchell Pearce has been in hospital for more than 100 days
Disability advocates say too many NDIS patients are “stuck” in hospital
The NDIA says it is challenging to find suitable accommodation in rural and regional areas
Mitchell Pearce, 52, has been at the Busselton Health Campus since March 29.
His sister said he had lost the will to live — a decline she said was potentially hastened by months in hospital.
Disability advocates claim more than 1,000 NDIS patients are effectively stuck in hospital because of delays in finding funding or suitable accommodation, and due to difficulties in navigating the system.
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said yesterday he had asked the National Disability Insurance Agency to find Mr Pearce suitable accommodation “as a matter of urgency”.
Judith Pearce said her much-loved son, who is disabled after battling brain tumors as a child, had been admitted to hospital after a series of falls that meant he could no longer live at home.
Judith Pearce says dealing with the NDIS has been heartbreaking.(ABC South West: Georgia Loney)
While Mr Pearce was eligible for NDIS funding, the only suitable accommodation offered was in Perth or Bunbury — far away from his support network.
She said she couldn’t fault the care given in hospital, but said her son had become non-responsive and was refusing to eat or drink.
“He was quite buoyant and quite happy at the situation when he first went in,” she said.
“But I think being there for so long in this situation he has got really depressed and got down.
“Now it’s really just too late, I think for Mitchell.”
Mitchell Pearce’s family says he has deteriorated since being admitted to hospital four months ago.(Supplied)
Mrs Pearce described the situation with the NDIS as heartbreaking.
“I think they have just let us go for far too long,” she said.
“I thought if perhaps we’d been there at maybe a month that something would have been resolved.”
She said the length of the stay had been devastating.
“All through all Mitchell’s illnesses, we’ve always had something to fight for. But this time, we haven’t,” she said.
‘Inhumane, inflexible’ system
Mr Peace’s sister Justine Richmond said the NDIS system was so inflexible it was inhumane.
She said her brother could not be assessed for going into a local nursing home without being “released” from the NDIS, as he was too young.
Justine Richmond and Judith Pearce say navigating the NDIS has been stressful.(ABC South West: Georgia Loney)
“Right back in April, when we first started having meetings about trying to find residential care for Mitchell, they acknowledged that we could go through this lengthy process, and that aged care might be the only outcome,” she said.
“But we still had to go through the process, even though this was a person who was stuck in hospital for months and months now.”
She said the NDIS needed to be able to deal more quickly with individual circumstances.
“It’s a very regimented situation… so if something doesn’t exactly fit their criteria, it doesn’t happen,” she said.
Not a unique situation
Persons with Disabilities Australia president Sam Connor said it was unacceptable disabled people were facing such long delays to be discharged from hospital because of systemic issues with the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
She referred to research from the Summer Foundation which claimed more than 1,000 NDIS participants were “stuck” in hospital in Australia, and more than 20 per cent of those faced problems getting a suitable discharge destination.
“Hospital shouldn’t be the place we go, because we haven’t got supports in place, because we haven’t got housing … no-one else has to stay in hospital because they’re effectively homeless because of the system ,” she said.
“Over the past 10 years there’s been a huge amount of red tape and bureaucracy.”
Justine Richmond (left) and Judith Pearce have put in a complaint about the NDIS.(ABC South West: Georgia Loney)
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said the previous government’s mismanagement had resulted in a backlog of cases of NDIS patients “languishing in hospital without disability supports”.
“The Albanese Government has taken immediate action to understand the cause of delays supporting eligible NDIS participants that prevent fast and safe discharge from hospital,” he said.
“People with disability should be able to leave hospital as quickly and safely as possible, into suitable accommodation.”
In a statement, a spokesman for the National Disability Insurance Agency said the organization “recognizes the exceptionally difficult health challenges facing Mitchell and his family.”
“The NDIA acknowledges that finding suitable disability housing, especially in regional and remote areas, can be challenging,” it stated.
A senior officer has now been appointed to help in the case.
Mrs Pearce said the NDIS had to change and bureaucrats needed to listen.
“I would just like to think that this wouldn’t happen to other families,” she said.
“This is why we are speaking out on behalf of Mitchell, we just hope this doesn’t happen to them because it is heartbreaking.”
