NDIS providers should be forced to fund ombudsman to address complaints, disability advocates say

The National Disability Insurance Scheme minister, Bill Shorten, said the NDIS was ‘a very immature system in terms of the way consumers have been treated’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

National disability insurance scheme providers should be forced to fund a consumer rights ombudsman, advocates have argued, amid claims the government-appointed regulator is failing to address price-gouging and unscrupulous service providers.

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has faced claims complaints take too long to be processed and are frequently rejected unresolved, while independent disability advocacy organisations say they are overburdened with requests for assistance.