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Labor will boost the top fines for dodgy NDIS providers by 40 times their current amount and introduce a penalty of jail time for the most serious failures, in its latest effort to improve integrity in the $47 billion scheme.
The NDIS commissioner will also receive powers to stop ads that falsely claim participants can use their funding to pay for things like holidays and cruises.
The federal government is raising the top fines for dodgy providers in the NDIS from $400,000 to $16.5 million. Jail time is also a possibility for the worst offenders.Credit: Marija Ercegovac
NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister will on Wednesday introduce a bill that lifts maximum fines for serious breaches from $400,000 to about $16.5 million, saying the scheme must be sustainable and effective and that it must operate with integrity.
The scheme forecast to surpass $100 billion in a decade. Health and Disability Minister Mark Butler has said urgent improvements to discipline and integrity are the most essential actions to deliver cost savings.
Butler wants to bring spending growth down to 5 or 6 per cent by the end of the four-year forward estimates. The latest quarterly scheme report put annual growth in expenses at 10.1 per cent.
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The other key part of shoring up the scheme’s future is signing a funding deal with the states, under which they would take on more responsibility for delivering less intense disability services, with the hope of taking pressure off the NDIS, which grew to support 751,000 people last quarter.
But that deal, which was supposed to be finalised this year, is still being negotiated. Premiers last week wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, urging him to step up more health funding in exchange for their support when national cabinet meets next month.
Meanwhile, McAllister said the federal government had uncovered “rorts committed by shonks, bad actors and criminals who have exploited and neglected vulnerable Australians”.
“This bill establishes new powers to hold those shonks and criminals to account,” she said.
“Where we see fraud, too often we see violence, abuse and neglect. This isn’t just about cracking down on the bad actors in the system, it’s also about keeping NDIS participants safe.”
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The current rules allow $400,000 fines for serious breaches of the NDIS code, which requires that providers act reasonably to prevent violence, abuse and neglect. A new “aggravated breach” for failures that lead to serious injury or death will be introduced, attracting a maximum fine of $16.5 million.
“Currently, an NDIS provider will face a dramatically larger fine for a death of a worker than a death of a participant on their watch,” the government said in a statement. “This legislation will bring that closer in line.”
Criminal penalties are also coming for providers who operate without registration when they are required to have it, such as when they provide specialist accommodation, use restrictive practices, or manage plans. The toughest penalty will be two years’ jail, or $16.5 million. Failure to comply with a banning order could attract five years’ jail.
False claims about how participants can spend NDIS funds will also attract $400,000 fines if a provider refuses to take ads down.
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