In the coming weeks, the government will set up a police task force to hunt down organized crime groups exploiting the National Disability Insurance Scheme, according to the NDIS minister.
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 task force will be set up to expose fraudsters
A Nine newspaper investigation has alleged members of the Hamzy and Alameddine gangs in Sydney and other organized crime gangs have been siphoning off billions of dollars from the NDIS scheme.
The head of the Criminal Intelligence Commission, Michael Phelan, told Nine newspapers that criminals were systematically “defrauding our most vulnerable people”.
Mr Phelan said there was evidence of criminals creating fake customers, skimming money, exploiting and intimidating customers and using pharmacy employees as “spotters” to find new NDIS customers to target.
Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission chief Michael Phelan says organized crime groups have infiltrated the NDIS. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten delivered a scathing assessment as he announced a multi-agency task force would be set up to track down scammers.
“I think they’re literally gutless cowards,” Shorten told Nine this morning.
“They might think they’re tough, some of these organized crime people. They might brag to each other about how smart they are.
“The rest of Australia looks down on that. And what we’re going to do is make sure the NDIS is only for 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 outside organized crime who were footing bills and “robbing the scheme”.
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten mocks “cowards” who exploit the most vulnerable members of the community. (ABC News: Nicholas Haggarty)
The minister said there needs to be more due diligence on the invoices of people who claim 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 that there’s enough communication between the National Disability Insurance Agency, the tax office, the police. It shouldn’t be like that. but it is,” Shorten told ABC Radio.
“And I don’t understand why more hasn’t been done sooner.”
NDIS anti-fraud teams have recovered a small portion of the billions alleged to have been defrauded from the scheme, charging 18 people since 2020 with a total of about $14 million in alleged fraud.