NDIS providers to face harsher penalties for allowing abuse of participants

ABC NEWS (Australia)

National Disability Insurance Scheme providers allowing participants to be abused could face fines in excess of $15 million, With the change part of wider reforms to the scheme.

Transcript

00:00This is proposed legislation that will go before Parliament and really it gives greater

00:06powers to the Quality and Safeguards Commission, so that's the watchdog that kind of oversees

00:11all things NDIS or National Disability Insurance Scheme.

00:15So really when we think about how to break down these two key kind of elements of this

00:20proposed legislation, it will give the ability for providers to be fined up in excess of

00:27$15 million if they are suspected or found to be allowing a participant to be abused

00:35or injured in their care.

00:37So there are fines currently but they're around $400,000, so in this proposed legislation

00:43those fines will obviously go up to in excess of $15 million, it's a bit of a jump there.

00:47And then the second thing is to give the Quality and Safeguards Commission greater powers to

00:54be able to investigate or recommend for criminal prosecution of providers or dodgy, bad eggs

01:03in the system, to ensure that really every dollar is accounted for in the NDIS, but most

01:09importantly to provide better protection and safeguards for participants.

01:13This has become quite a big issue, it's definitely been a focus of the NDIS Minister Bill Shorten

01:19and he's tried very hard to stamp out a lot of the fraud that we've heard a lot about

01:24within the scheme, people on the margins involved in criminal activities and taking participants

01:30for a ride, and we've heard a lot also about participants being abused or injured in care

01:36and obviously that's a very big focus here with this legislation.

01:39I must say this is the second batch of legislation involved in a whole suite of changes and overhauls

01:45to the NDIS, so this will go before Parliament, a consultation will be undertaken with participants,

01:52their families, advocates and the wider sector.

01:56And the Minister Bill Shorten has said time and time again these changes are really about

02:01several things, mostly to bring the NDIS back to its original intent to provide support

02:08to the people with permanent and profound disability, but also to make sure that every

02:14dollar is accounted for.

02:15It's a scheme that has grown significantly over the last few years in terms of its growth

02:23and there's now more than 660,000 participants, but look in relation to this particular legislation

02:30it will go before Parliament and the Minister Bill Shorten says consultation will be really

02:34important here.

02:36What we're about is making sure that the quality of the scheme improves and we're about making

02:40sure that people on the scheme are kept safe.

02:44We'll seek to do this in conjunction with the states and territories and I'm looking

02:48forward to discussing these very important reforms with them straight away.

02:54That's the NDIS Minister Bill Shorten there.

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