{"id":664727,"date":"2026-05-11T22:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/664727\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T22:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:23:13","slug":"cracking-down-on-fraud-in-ndis-and-veterans-affairs-to-save-billions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/664727\/","title":{"rendered":"Cracking down on fraud in NDIS and veterans affairs to save billions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Criminal gangs and swindlers rorting Australia\u2019s support services \u2013 from veterans affairs to childcare and NDIS \u2013 will be targeted in Tuesday\u2019s federal budget as fears grow that debt will spiral due to a surge in dodgy payments.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says the $6.6 billion fund for veterans has turned into a free-for-all market \u201csimilar to the NDIS\u201d, with dodgy doctors and firms exaggerating ailments and skimming payments meant for retired defence personnel.<\/p>\n

\"TreasurerTreasurer Jim Chalmers, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher on budget eve.Dominic Lorrimer<\/p>\n

In an interview with this masthead, she stressed that dodgy companies exploiting the system are the problem, rather than veterans who deserved support and would continue to receive appropriate payments.<\/p>\n

As the Coalition and One Nation campaign on NDIS fraud in the suburbs, Gallagher said the government was aware of sophisticated criminal operations manipulating the NDIS, including at least one sending proceeds to nations in Africa.<\/p>\n

Online claim systems have created loopholes that have allowed fraud to flourish, Gallagher said. The phenomenon poses a persistent problem for the government as people exploit generous programs after more than a decade of slow growth in living standards and declining trust in institutions.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Finance<\/a><\/p>\n

The crackdown on bad actors, being led by the Fraud Fusion Taskforce, will be a top priority as the government works to rein in near-record spending levels.<\/p>\n

Gallagher said \u201cit just never ceases to amaze\u201d how rapidly people seek to take advantage of rich government schemes, including disaster relief plans exploited by those nowhere near the incident, adding that such behaviour \u201cmakes you think the worst of people\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experience with NDIS is follow the money wherever large government programs are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to make sure we\u2019re doing everything we can on all of those big programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down a budget on Tuesday that will promise a $45 billion improvement in the budget bottom line over five years. A radical overhaul of the NDIS, which will reshape the rules for joining the scheme, is estimated to save up to $35 billion over four years.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Police<\/a><\/p>\n

Economists have warned that much of the boost to the budget bottom line will be derived from war-induced commodity price spikes. Labor has said the budget will not forecast surpluses over the next few years, meaning the nation\u2019s nearly trillion-dollar debt will not be paid down. The government has not yet released key figures showing the amount by which its policy decisions will affect overall spending levels, though it has promised to save money through its policy choices.<\/p>\n

When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to power, the veterans\u2019 compensation program was in tatters, with veterans waiting years for their claims to be examined. The Morrison government forecast $1.8 billion would be spent on former diggers\u2019 compensation claims this year. But as the government has cleared a large backlog and tried to make sure veterans were fairly treated, the scheme has ballooned to $6.6 billion each year.<\/p>\n

Labor MPs speaking on the condition of anonymity have said that for-profit operators were known to walk around RSL clubs advertising to veterans the options for compensation, drumming up interest in compensation claims.<\/p>\n

The government banked more than $55 million in savings from the veterans program in the first quarter of this year after introducing integrity measures. Tuesday\u2019s budget will include more forecasts for savings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing we\u2019re watching with the veterans is this is similar to the NDIS [in terms of] how the market responds,\u201d Gallagher said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you ensure veterans are getting the help they need, but the taxpayer isn\u2019t being taken for a ride?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coalition had been calling for months for major NDIS cuts, on which Labor gazumped the opposition. One Nation has been using its cartoon to put a spotlight on reports in The Australian Financial Review<\/a> that the ethnically diverse suburbs of Western Sydney were hotspots for dodgy NDIS providers.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we have a government that\u2019s focused on how it seems to want to hand money to organised crime, fraud, and corruption,\u201d shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said on Monday.<\/p>\n

The government announced last month it would rewrite NDIS eligibility rules<\/a> to stop the disability program from turning into the government\u2019s most expensive stream.<\/p>\n

\"ShadowShadow treasurer Tim Wilson says the budget will be built on deceit.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

Before entering politics, Gallagher helped people with an intellectual disability integrate into the community. The social and community participation budget within the NDIS had tripled in five years to over $12 billion and was on track to balloon to $20 billion, the government said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to take people from the hostels and stuff out for genuine community participation, go to the movies, go to dinner. People who would never get out,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not what this is paying for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly do not know what the Libs were doing for 10 years with the NDIS. I know they\u2019ll blame it all on us, but when we left [government in 2013], it was in its embryonic stages. When we came back 10 years later \u2026 [they were not] checking any invoices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that you just allow these plan managers to create a whole new industry to just click the ticket and not have any regulation, any registration, the [NDIS agency] doesn\u2019t even know who it\u2019s paying. I mean it is extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coalition argues that Labor under Julia Gillard designed the NDIS and its flawed rules.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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\"PaulPaul Sakkal<\/a> is Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-664727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}