Business tax fraud is worse than NDIS fraud. Disabled people are paying the price

Aussies hate government waste. NDIS fraud especially disgusts us because it robs disabled people of much needed supports.

The Albanese Government wants to make huge changes to the NDIS in the name of fixing fraud, however, only a small fraction of savings are expected to come from targeting fraud, as I wrote recently on The Point.

So, while everyone has read stories about shonky NDIS providers, is NDIS fraud really more widespread than other types of fraud in the federal budget?

It is really hard to find consistent, comparable data on fraud and misuse. Different programs, policies and taxes are usually measured and assessed slightly differently.

However, 2024 figures from the Australian Taxation Office on tax fraud by businesses do provide a potential comparison. “The ATO estimates there is around $16 billion in stolen taxes because of businesses doing things like cash jobs each year.”

As a basic comparison, the Australian National Audit Office and National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) estimated not just fraud but all “non-compliant, fraudulent or incorrect claims” at 6 to 10 per cent of NDIS outlays in 2023. Taking 8% as a mid-point and applying this to the $43 billion NDIS budget in 2023-24, results in NDIS non-compliance of $3.4 billion.

At face value, tax fraud by businesses is a far bigger problem than NDIS fraud. Is this an apples-with-apples comparison? Company tax payments are larger than the cost of the NDIS, so including the total revenue/cost of both provides some context:

The second chart shows that tax fraud by businesses is a slightly greater portion of company tax receipts (11%) as non-compliance, fraud and incorrect claims are of the NDIS budget (8%).

Beyond dollar figures, the ATO reported more tip offs from the community than the NDIA (47,000 vs 29,000 (page 44)) and scored significantly more fraud convictions (343 vs 25 (page 44))

This comparison suggests that fraud in the NDIS is certainly smaller and proportionately similar to tax fraud by Australian businesses. Yet the NDIS is treated differently.

In what felt like an episode of NCIS, not NDIS, Minister Mark Butler used fraud-themed words like “shonk”, “dodgy”, “rort” and “crime” a total of  23 times in his Press Club speech.

No such words appear when the Treasurer talks at the Press Club about tax.

This really matters. The Government’s cuts and harder tests will prevent access to the NDIS for 350,000 people over 4 years. Assistance that allows disabled people to get to work and into the community is being slashed. All justified because of ‘fraud’ and ‘rorting’.

If the government wants to crack down on one type of fraud (and neglect others) for political reasons, they should show their working out. Break it down for us in each area of government spending: how much fraud has been prosecuted; how much leakage is from honest mistakes; how much were providers responsible; how much was repaid and so on.

I’ll bet such an approach never makes it to spending on submarines, fighter planes and other weapons.

A reset on public conversation will take political leadership. Language that centres on human rights, genuine policy collaboration, and dignity would be a good place to start a new discussion about the NDIS.