Fraudsters taking advantage of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are being warned of a fresh crackdown after one Queensland woman was jailed and another charged over alleged fraud offences.
Investigators this week charged a 47-year-old woman from the Western Downs with four counts of fraud.
She allegedly attempted to defraud the NDIS of more than $300,000 after lodging fraudulent claims for people from across the country, including in Far North Queensland and Victoria.
The woman has been released on conditional bail and will face the Dalby Magistrates Court in September.
Investigations were launched after the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) was contacted by police in Dalby, who had received complaints of an unregistered provider overcharging participants.
Meanwhile, another woman from the Bundaberg region was jailed this week for two and a half years over a separate matter.
The Bundaberg District Court found the woman had committed fraud against the NDIS to the value of almost $100,000.
Wider crackdown
National Disability Insurance Scheme Minister Bill Shorten said it was part of wider crackdown on those who were fleecing the scheme.
"Any type of deceptive or fraudulent behaviour that targets the safety net to support our fellow Australians with permanent and significant disability is shameless and despicable," he said.
"These people pretend to support NDIS participants, but instead try to rip them off by blatantly overcharging and skimming extra money from their plans."
Toowoomba-based disability advocate Sharon Boyce has backed the crackdown on service providers and said she was heartened to see action being taken.
"They're taking your money away from real people, the participants who really need it," she said.
"These are massive amounts of money … that money from the scheme that could have really changed somebody's life for the better."
Professor Helen Dickinson, from UNSW said the issue of fraud in the NDIS hadn't received much attention in recent years.
"People with disability have been saying for a number of years that there are aspects of fraud...and they haven't really been listened to," she said.
Professor Dickinson said the crackdown was likely to only scratch the surface of fraudulent claims for the NDIS.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is encouraging anyone with information about suspected fraud to contact its 1800 650 717 helpline.
