One Nation Push for NDIS Inquiry Voted Down by Labor, Greens

A majority of the Senate has shot down a motion by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson who was pushing for an investigation into potential fraud in the taxpayer-backed National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Hanson called for the inquiry, saying the NDIS was being abused with some workers receiving inflated rates up to $195 an hour from the scheme expected to cost $52.3 billion in 2025-26 and up to $63.4 billion by 2028-29.

“The scheme was originally set up to care for the severely disabled, but it has since been abused and the cost has already reached $50 billion a year, on track to reach $100 billion,” Hanson said.

“There is a large number of unregistered providers—around 280,000—compared to registered ones—about 25,000—with support coordination costs exceeding $1.65 billion without clear participant outcomes, posing risks to scheme sustainability.

“Immigration agents, some banned for misconduct, have been able to register as NDIS providers and allegedly defraud the scheme.”

Hanson also claims billions are being spent on non-essential activities including holidays and entertainment.

“Some former prisoners receive large NDIS payments, how is this possible?” Hanson said.

“The scheme is not means-tested, allowing wealthy individuals to access funds, with some participants receiving over a million dollars and potential double-dipping with insurance payouts.

“Wages under NDIS can be claimed up to $195 per hour, much higher than typical wages for similar services, contributing to inflated costs and sucking away providers from other important industries like aged care and veterans services.”

Labor, Greens Oppose Motion

Speaking against the motion in the Senate, Western Australian Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John—who is wheelchair bound—accused Senator Hanson of putting forth “ableist” beliefs.

“There is no community in this country that cares more about fraud in the NDIS than disabled people and their families,” he said.

“Because, when fraud occurs—when we are the victims of fraud—it’s more than a headline, and it’s more than a sound bite.

“It is the supports that help us out of bed, enable us to go to work, enable us to get to hospital when we’re sick and enable us to see our friends.”

Steele-John also accused One Nation of treating the issue like a “political opportunity.”

“If you want to have a serious conversation about the NDIS, let us have that conversation, but I will not sit by and allow you to use this Senate to establish a forum for you to spend months on end validating the ableist belief that disabled people and our families are rorting this system when it is not true and is not supported by any scrap of evidence,” he said.

Labor Senator Anthony Chisholm said the government had already established its own process for investigating abuse of the NDIS.

“The minister for the NDIS wrote to the Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme to propose an inquiry into the integrity of the NDIS,” he said.

“The joint standing committee is the appropriate parliamentary forum to conduct an inquiry of this kind and is established precisely for this purpose.

“The motion from the senator to establish a separate Senate inquiry in a committee not focused on the NDIS is not necessary.”

Hanson’s motion was opposed by Labor, the Greens and independent Tammy Tyrrell.

Fraud an Ongoing Issue

The One Nation senator’s push for the inquiry comes as a Melbourne court jailed Kim Michael Schubert, who was found guilty of sharing in more than $190,000 of fraudulent claims.

The case was the 23rd successful conviction for crimes committed against the NDIS since the Fraud Fusion Taskforce was established by the Labor government in November 2022—convictions for fraud have doubled since then.

Schubert was ordered to pay $40,000 in restitution and sentenced to three years’ jail with nine months to be served as real time.

On March 18, the Fraud Taskforce executed a search warrant at a New South Wales property amid suspected large-scale criminal facilitation of NDIS fraud and money laundering allegedly valued at $3.5 million.

In 2023, the NDIS revealed it investigated $356.5 million in payments and 43 active fraud cases with an estimated value of $35 million.