Bill Shorten told parliament on Tuesday (2-7-24) that $billions of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) spending is being rorted on things such as “strata fees, fines, steam rooms, gambling, legal cannabis, cruises, trips to Japan, non-assistance animals, taxidermy, weddings, gift cards, the Liberal favourite sex toys, crystal therapy, cardiol therapy, clairvoyants and taro, somatic therapy, mastermind coaches and cryptocurrency”.
The NDIS is heading towards being a bigger fraud scam than Jobkeeper and it is possibly already a bigger fraud scam.
Bill Shorten also said, as per the below video, an 8-week delay on a reform bill to stop the rorts that is currently stuck in the Senate will add $1 billion in “inflated costs to the NDIS”. If that is true it means $5.5 billion is being rorted on a yearly basis.
The rorting doesn’t include substantial fraud and theft such as overcharging and fake invoices etc.
Bill Shorten in the below video blames the Coalition and says to opposition leader Peter Dutton “Why are you keeping these rorts on the scheme?” “It is all on the head of the coalition. You couldn’t run the NDIS, we’re fixing it”
The below video is Bill Shorten in parliament on the 2nd of July 2024 being asked a Dorothy Dixer:
In the above video Bill Shorten says NDIS spending is being rorted on things such as “strata fees, fines, steam rooms, gambling, legal cannabis, cruises, trips to Japan, non-assistance animals, taxidermy, weddings, gift cards, the Liberal favourite sex toys, crystal therapy, cardiol therapy, clairvoyants and taro, somatic therapy, mastermind coaches and cryptocurrency”.
How long has Bill Shorten known about those “rorts”? If Shorten has known about the “rorts” for over 2 years since he became the Minister for the NDIS, he should be sacked for failing to take action earlier. If Shorten only found out about the “rorts” recently he should be sacked for failing to do his job for over 2 years.
Bill Shorten has been the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and for Government Services since May 2022 and he was the Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and for Government Services from May 2019 until he became the Minister in May 2022.
Shorten has known about the massive NDIS fraud and theft for years and still massive fraud and theft is occurring. Shorten blaming the coalition for fraud and theft that has happened on Shortens watch over the last 2 years is scandalous.
In August 2022 I published an article titled “Bill Shorten, Labor’s version of Angus Taylor, is doing nothing about the estimated $6 Billion being stolen from the NDIS. Why?” which starts off:
Bill Shorten, Minister for the NDIS, has failed to take any action regarding the $billions being stolen from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) every year even though he says he has known it has been going on for a long time so much so he continually warned the previous government about the fraud and theft.
Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission CEO Michael Phelan estimates the fraud and theft could be up to 20% of the $30 billion annual cost which puts the total amount stolen from the public purse at $6 billion. (Click here to read the article)
In November 2022 the ABC reported in an article titled “NDIS minister Bill Shorten reads the riot act to rorters, vowing to track down ‘shonky’ providers”:
The minister in charge of the NDIS has vowed to track down “shonky” disability providers, telling them to “get off my scheme”.
Bill Shorten told the ABC that some providers were making themselves “NDIS millionaires off the backs of taxpayers and people with disability.”
“The NDIS is doing a lot of good for a lot of people. But in my opinion, there’s been insufficient scrutiny paid on the backdoor of the scheme,” Mr Shorten said.
“The invoices come in, people aren’t checked to see if the services that they’re claiming they deserve to be reimbursed for have actually occurred.”
Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission chief Michael Phelan has estimated that up to 15-20 per cent of the NDIS expenditure is rorted. (Click here to read more)
In August 2023 I published an article titled “Bill Shorten and the NDIS is set to become Australia’s biggest fraud scam with tens of $billions stolen” which starts off:
Bill Shorten is overseeing Australia’s biggest fraud scam known as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) which is now seeing up to $7 billion a year stolen according to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission CEO Michael Phelan.
If those figures are right, then that means over $50 billion has been stolen over the last 10 years which is bigger than the JobKeeper fraud.
Bill Shorten has previously said “he continually warned the previous government about the fraud and theft” but after more than 12 months in the role as NDIS Minister Shorten has achieved little even though he was warned on national TV, as per below, about the fraud problem. Why?
(The below video is from August 2022 and shows Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission CEO Michael Phelan talking about the $billions stolen from the NDIS.)
(Click here to read the article)
The ABC reported on the 5th of June 2024:
Criminals manipulating participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme have used their money to buy drugs, holidays and new cars.
Among the instances of fraud of the $42 billion scheme were a $20,000 holiday, and a $73,000 car.
NDIS participants have also been forced to hand over cash for criminals to buy drugs, and later harassed by the fraudulent providers.
Officials told Senate Estimates on Monday evening courts can’t keep up with the number of cases of exploitation of participants by organised crime, with reform needed to stop manipulation of participants.
John Dardo — integrity chief of the National Disability Insurance Agency which runs the scheme — claimed at least five per cent of the scheme’s spending wasn’t on genuine needs. (Click here to read more)
Five percent of the annual $42 billion NDIS spend is just over $2 billion but that is less than what Bill Shorten told parliament on Tuesday (2/7/24) of $1 billion over 8 weeks which equals $5.5 billion over a year.
On the 23rd of April 2024 the NDIS website posted an article quoting Bill Shorten which says in part:
Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and Government Services Bill Shorten is thanking Australians for providing critical tip offs to stop fraudsters and crooks ripping off people with disability.
There’s been a radical increase in the number of fraud tip-offs to the National Disability Insurance Agency since the Albanese Government set up the Fraud Fusion Taskforce (FFT) in November 2022.
In the most recent quarter, the NDIA received 4,667 tip-offs related to fraud and compliance issues – an increase of more than 75 per cent on similar quarters prior to the establishment of the FFT. That trend has continued in 2024, with more than 2,000 tip-offs received in the month of February alone.
“Since commencing in 2022, the Fraud Fusion Taskforce has investigated more than 100 cases with over $1 billion of NDIS funding,” Minister Shorten said. (Click here to read more)
So, in the 21 months the Fraud Fusion Taskforce has been operating it has only investigated somewhere over 100 cases and somewhere over $1 billion. It stands out a mile that the Fraud Fusion Taskforce should be at least 5 times bigger than it is. So why isn’t it?
Given that Bill Shorten’s own figures he told of $1 billion over 8 weeks which equals $5.5 billion over 52 weeks then the $1 billion of alleged fraud investigated is 18% of the total fraud. But if the fraud is higher than the $5.5 billion, they are investigating less than 18% of the estimated fraud per year.
That means somewhere between 10 to 18 percent of the money currently being stolen from the NDIS is being investigated but at least $4.4 billion being “scammed” and stolen from the NDIS per year is not even being investigated.
Somewhere between $5 billion to $10 billion has been stolen from the NDIS per year while Bill Shorten has been the NDIS Minister even though he knew, and everyone knew, for years that there was massive fraud at the NDIS.
And the fraud goes on as per the below A Current Affair story from the 12th of June 2024 of “Denise Clissold’s business’ tactics to get money from clients with disabilities” on the NDIS. Alleged NDIS fraudster Denise Clissold has not even been barred or suspended after many complaints. No wonder the fraud goes on.
Bill Shorten has been NDIS Minister for over 2 years now and knew about the rorts for years when he was opposition Shadow Minister for the NDIS.
The first thing that Bill Shorten and the government should have done when Labor won government in May 2022 was hold a public inquiry into the widespread fraud and theft at the NDIS given it was public knowledge.
The NDIS expenditure is growing rapidly and is estimated at $36.7 billion in 2022–23 and is expected to be $41.9 billion in 2023–24 and the fraud and theft is likely growing rapidly given Bill Shorten, Labor and the previous coalition governments have done very little to stop it.
Friends and supporters of the Labor Party, Liberal Party and National Party make $millions from ripping off government schemes such as the NDIS, Jobkeeper and the fraudulent water buybacks etc. It is not an accident or oversight, it’s deliberate.
The government schemes are designed by corrupt politicians to be ripped off and without a doubt many Labor, Liberal and National Party friends and supporters are ripping off the NDIS. And that is why Bill Shorten has dragged his feet on the issue while at the same time talking tough to the media on the issue.
Please use Facebook, “X”, email and the other buttons below and help promote this article.
Kangaroo Court of Australia is independent media and is 100% crowdfunded by readers like yourself so please support on the links below. Click on the PayPal button below to donate or for other donation options click here to go to the Donations page.
Thank you for your support.
For the KCA t-shirt shop click here.
For the Fugitive Clothing t-shirt shop click here
Join the free email subscription below and you will be notified immediately I publish new articles which is normally twice a week.
Discover more from Kangaroo Court of Australia
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: Bill Shorten, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
No mention of the part played by PM Tony Abbott in deliberately sabotaging all Labor initiatives, including the newly-established NDIS?
Nine years of neglect, without enforcement of regulations, allowed rorting and fraud to become embedded.
It is essential that NDIS clients are not victims of a necessary cleanout.
All measures must be considered and developed consulting those with lived experience of disability.
There was mention of the Liberals and Nationals were I wrote:
“Friends and supporters of the Labor Party, Liberal Party and National Party make $millions from ripping off government schemes such as the NDIS, Jobkeeper and the fraudulent water buybacks etc. It is not an accident or oversight, it’s deliberate.”
“The government schemes are designed by corrupt politicians to be ripped off and without a doubt many Labor, Liberal and National Party friends and supporters are ripping off the NDIS. And that is why Bill Shorten has dragged his feet on the issue while at the same time talking tough to the media on the issue.”
But you ignored that because you are defending a corrupt Labor Party. Somewhere between $10 and $20 billion has been stolen on Bill Shorten’s watch but you want to blame Tony Abbott for that. Abbott hasn’t been Prime Minister since 2015.
I have a child with severe autism, i am self managed and I spend the money as stated, it is monitored and It has changed our life, Please dont ruin it.
Thank you for the article. Have you information on how many people have been investigated for fraud and how many have been charged, and finally how many have been prosecuted?
If you want to get rich, get into politics. None of them are honourable, remove the title.
Given the widespread visa rorting that has occurred unchecked since 2007, the failure of ASIC to do its job, Defence procurement bungling etc. etc. one could be forgiven for asking whether the entire federal public service is up to the job.
Does lying include leaving out the truth? Is lying an opinion or something proven? And then who or what is the authority of proof?
At the moment we are safe in knowing that 90% of our politicians lie or fail to give a truthful answer on a permanent basis. It’s a starting point for us to judge them, and knowing they even have ‘privilege’ to defame and lie in parliament. They rarely represent the people’s opinion and they are smothered with expenses and bribes. We hope a parliament and politicians deal with our grievances, as the (rorting of the NDIS, mass immigration, and cost of living,) but the reality is politicians are the grievance.
Still no sealed section. wtf
the main rorting is from fund managers and there revolving door therapists at $210 per hr. they dont do there job so the next one turns up until the persons account is drained and you dont hear from them until next year
I totally agree. Alot of the allied health don’t have the experience needed to help our children. Occupational therapists with 1 or 2 years experience charging 200.00 an hour. Don’t even get me started on the cost of respite. 1000.00 a night and bring your own support worker. Then I also saw an NDIS respite provider setting up respite in Melbourne hotels and charging 425.00 to arrange each nights accomodation on top of the cost of the accomodation.And then you have participants being denied their legitimate needs and having to fight in the AAT, against the government funded lawyers. The NDIS has so much potential but its being destroyed by unscrupulous individuals. Bill Shorten is a charlatan. If he really cared about people with disabilities he would put the resources in place to stop the fraud. Instead he wants to punish the people the NDIS is meant to serve.
Shorten does very little about rorting as his priority as a Minister in a Labor government is to help business. To earn money, certainly from government handouts from the NDIS, plus any other government funded scheme.
As they may, as a ‘thank you’, give a donation to Labor, to help with their next re-election campaign.
This was Howard’s, plus all other Liberal PMs policies. Shorten, while not PM, will be a significant policy maker in the Albanese Labor government.
People may not remember his influence, as AWU secretary in the early 2000’s, which was exposed in the Trade Union Royal Commission in 2015.
The Chiquita Mushroom scheme, designed by Shorten resulted in $4000/month for 6 months being paid to the AWU by Chiquita, with the mushroom pickers needing to accept lower pay and conditions.
The women were made redundant then asked to reapply for their jobs through a Labor hire company.
Each State of Australia has its own Public Trustee.
As soon as I saw Shorten going into overdrive doing PR spin on Facebook and X about the NDIS rorting last week my first thought was “what is he up to now?” and rightly so.
Please – Have a READ!
The Labor-led Welsh government has committed to introduce “globally pioneering” legislation that would in effect make lying in politics there illegal
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/02/welsh-government-commits-to-making-lying-in-politics
What’s the chances of having that in place in the houses of parliament in Australia??? …
Like so many disasters handed to Labor from the Coalition they have done little to fix the problems. Their ‘softly, softly’ approach has been a complete failure.
They have kept the same staff and oversight that failed to regulate the funds properly. The problems are structural but Labor insists on tinkering around the edges instead of fixing the system and that is not just the NDIA. They are doing the same thing with the record number of ‘asylum seekers’ who have been trafficked in by plane. The criminal organisations are still using that route.
Now instead of taking the hard decisions, Shorten is performing stunts with trucks, a tactic straight out of the Coalition handbook of trying to deflect blame.
The media discourse is overwhelmingly targetted at participants ‘rorting’ the system, when in actual fact it is the PROVIDERS, the OT’s, the Support Coordinators doing the majority of the rorting.
It is just too easy to call yourself a provider and charge like a wounded bull, and I have little doubt the previous LNP government aided and abetted this by not overseeing the processes enough.
As a participant, i’ve had the fear of God drummed into me about claiming anything that can’t be justified. Yet nobody asks WHY we need an OT report of 16-20 plus pages (at $198 an hour) to explain why a person in a wheelchair needs a $100 gel cushion to prevent pressure sores. Or someone with limited mobility needs a scooter. The NDIS was well designed in consultation with the disabled community. It was deliberately eroded so that opportunistic thieves could rip off people with disability. Yet what do we see in the media? Shock! Horror! A person with complex disability hired a sex worker and claimed it! ONE PERSON, according to Shorten. But crips daring to have sex gets the headlines and clicks, doesn’t it? The whole discourse is a toxic exercise in crip bashing, while the corporate criminals get off scot free and fingers point at ‘organised crime’. In reality, the vast majority of the rorting is going on in plain sight … and we all know what ‘punishments’ for such financial crime looks like. A slap on the wrist.
I have a child with autism & global development delay. My occupation demands I move every few years. We were forced on to the NDIS from the state based system which was much superior. I have long been of the opinion the NDIS should be razed to the ground. A soon as we were forced on to it everything so much more difficult.
The rorts have been there from the start, I could find more overpriced tradesman than therapists on their search function. Seems that has branched out into sex services & holidays. My son has been on waiting lists now for 8 months to see a therapist, I am not confident he will see anyone by Christmas and we are near the second most populous capital in the country.
The opposition have never been keen on the NDIS so I place less blame on the string of mediocrities they have appointed to administer of shadow the portfolio. Billy Shorten however I hold at a much higher standard, it is his baby. He has shown gross incompetence of his office, the problems are not new and have been known about for at least his term. He really needs to pull his head in and stop blaming everyone else. You’re the minister fix it by regulations if you can’t get the legislation through, one wonders why unless someone or both are playing politics. Just change the eligibility rules via the regulations and if the Fed Court interferes again then amend the legislation which I’m sure the opposition would support.
All it looks like now is more political games.
My partner was recently quoted $3004 for an overnight weekend stay for his 32 year old wheelchair bound son who also has cerebral palsy. I suggested he request an itemised breakdown of costs but the provider informed him that wasn’t possible.
Pre Covid, we occasionally used the services of the Samaritans who provided a 3 night stay in a beautiful house in a rural setting, complete with pick up & drop off service, for approx. $800. But then, for reasons unknown, respite costs suddenly began to rise quite significantly & the Samarians could no longer sustain that side of their business.
Respite is just as important for the disabled child/adult as it is for the parent/s but not at $3004/night. I’d like to talk to the bubbled bureaucrat who approved that outrageous misuse of taxpayer funds.
Something else that isn’t mentioned by the legacy media are the inflated quotes from builders for legitimate home modifications. I couldn’t believe my eyes when my partner requested quotes for a wheelchair ramp from NDIS registered builders. He ended up finding a local, non-gauging builder who saved tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars.
And have you heard the one about a new sick leave policy whereby 7 day’s notice is required for cancellations if your disabled son or daughter falls ill and is unable to attend their day time respite centre? This ridiculous policy was introduced earlier this year by a NDIS disability service provider, whose name I won’t mention because the centre’s carers are wonderful & local management have been responsive and supportive. Requesting 7 day’s notice for a holiday or other planned event is acceptable, but illness? Do parents and care givers now need a crystal ball to predict illness?
Bill Shorten’s office was eventually forced into action because of persistent emails to the local MP, and a ministerial was raised about this and other issues. I really makes me wonder how many public servants responsible for serving the disability sector have any lived experience in the disability world. Few, if any, I would imagine. Perhaps it’s time for them to do some work experience at a disability care centre so they have at least some idea of what they are actually dealing with.
As disrespectful as the runaway $5-8B NDIS rortfest is to our disabled loved ones, families & carers, CHEERS to KCA for caring enough to write about it. Corruption be gone!
The rorting of the NDIS is terrible.
The worst rort is the one at the Health Workers Union in Melbourne.
Diana Asmar keeps spending union members money on hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal expenses.