The Albanese Government is using rhetoric about "fraud", "rorts" and "scammers" to justify pushing around 160,000 people off the NDIS, while failing to seriously pursue far larger savings in Medicare that would not come at the direct expense of disabled Australians.
Professionals Australia questions why, instead of first looking for savings elsewhere in the health system, Labor has gone after disabled Australians and the supports they rely on to balance its budget.
Reported estimates (ABC: 'Expert estimates $8 billion a year lost to Medicare fraud and waste', 17/10/2022) suggest Medicare fraud, waste and incorrect claiming could be as high as 25 to 30 per cent. On annual spending of around $31 billion, bringing that down to the same 6 per cent benchmark the government has proposed for the NDIS could deliver savings of up to $8 billion each year.
That is a far bigger savings opportunity than stripping support from disabled people – which estimates a total saving of $15 billion over a 4 year period. Professionals Australia notes there has been no comparable urgency from the Government, no equivalent public campaign and no sign it has seriously pursued those options before moving to force 160,000 people off the Scheme.
Newcastle-based speech pathologist and clinic director, Sarah Moran, said:
"The Government keeps talking about scammers and rorters, but they are not the people who will suffer most from these changes.
"The people who will suffer are disabled Australians who lose therapy, lose supports and lose the services that allow them to live independently.
"If Labor's response to fraud is to push 160,000 people off the Scheme while leaving billions in Medicare leakage insufficiently tackled, then it is disabled people - not fraudsters - who are being made to pay the price."
Professionals Australia CEO, Sam Roberts, said:
"If 6 per cent is the integrity benchmark for the NDIS, it should be the benchmark across the health system.
"The Government cannot claim there is no money for disability supports while failing to pursue much larger integrity savings in Medicare with the same determination.
"This is not genuine reform. It is a decision to target the most politically vulnerable part of the system before exhausting less harmful alternatives."
Brisbane-based speech language pathologist and business owner, Carolyn Wetherby, said:
"On the ground, we are already seeing plans tightened and supports reduced. These changes will not just hit bad actors - they will hit people with legitimate needs.
"The real-world result will be fewer services, longer waitlists and more disabled Australians going without essential care."
No one is defending fraud. Fraud should be identified, prosecuted and eliminated wherever it occurs.
But the Government's case depends on conflating a crackdown on bad actors with measures that will strip support from ordinary Australians with disability. Labor is talking about rorters, while the people who will actually bear the cost are the participants pushed off the Scheme, the families left to fill the gap and the providers struggling to keep care in place.
The Government has already invested hundreds of millions into compliance and fraud activity within the NDIS. The issue is not a lack of tools. It is a lack of political will to apply the same standard across the health system.
Disabled communities should not be used as a budget repair mechanism while billions in potential Medicare savings remain insufficiently pursued.
