Revelations of mass NDIS rorts 'incredibly alarming', admits minister

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler says revelations of large-scale fraud in the NDIS are “incredibly alarming” amid reports dodgy providers were spending millions of taxpayer dollars on cars, holidays, and drugs.

National Disability Insurance Agency integrity chief John Dardo told Senate estimates on Monday that the legal system would be unable to cope if every fraudulent provider was chased down and prosecuted.

Butler said stopping the mass rort was “priority business” for the government.

“This is a terrific scheme that’s providing support to people with disability that simply wasn’t there more than 10 years ago, but we know there’s simply too much waste,” Butler told Today.

“There are too many rorts. There’s certainly too many dodgy providers.”

He called on federal MPs to pass legislation, drafted by NDIS Minister Bill Shorten, which was currently before parliament, and which takes aim at the problem.

“I mean, there are thousands of unregistered providers out there too,” Butler said.

“Too many of them are engaged in rorts and we need the legislation passed through the parliament.”

Butler also called on state governments to do their part. and support federal efforts to clean up the scheme.

”That’s how the scheme was set up. We don’t have power, entirely, to change these arrangements,” he said.

But he conceded that while people in legitimate need struggled to access support, reports of these rorts would leave them “furious”.

“We all know people who are struggling to get onto the scheme and would benefit from this world-leading scheme if they were able to get on it,” he said.