Australia's NDIS faces reforms and concerns over participant cuts and plan‑manager fraud

The Australian government plans to remove more than 100,000 participants from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) as part of cost‑saving reforms. A parliamentary committee hearing in Canberra will examine the impact, with disability advocates warning that those cut could "disappear" and lose secure housing. The government delayed the measures until at least August after a deal with the Greens and is also proposing tougher penalties for NDIS‑related offences and greater information sharing between agencies.

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has rejected over 8,000 fraudulent or non‑delivered service claims worth about $19 million in the past nine months, and more than 4,000 claims from plan‑management middlemen have been refused. Minister Jenny McAllister says new legislation will give the government power to intervene in the $8 billion plan‑manager market, requiring participants to use an approved list of providers. Around 1,400 plan managers have been placed under manual review, and the majority of smaller operators have been flagged for risk, prompting a crackdown on low‑quality and non‑compliant services.