NDIA Accountability Project

Lack of NDIS monitoring leading to financial exploitation of vulnerable participants

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NDIS Inquiry 2026

To Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit Parliament of Australia

RE: Submission to the Inquiry into the Management and Performance of the NDIS

I am writing to make a formal submission regarding the current management, funding oversight, and operational standards within the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). As a Support Coordinator and NDIS Provider, I witness first-hand the significant gaps in monitoring, accountability, and decision-making. These issues directly affect vulnerable participants who rely on the NDIS for essential support, safety, and quality of life.

Misuse of Funding and Lack of Monitoring

NDIS funding is being mismanaged and misallocated due to insufficient auditing and oversight. This results in participants losing access to necessary supports long before their plan end date.

Examples from my direct experience include:

  • A gardening provider was billing approximately $900-$1,000 per week to a participant without her understanding or informed consent. Over $4,300 was charged in less than one month.
  • When I questioned the provider, the justification given was that the participant “requested weekly checks on her garden while interstate” yet no such agreement existed.
  • I lodged complaints with both the plan manager and the NDIS, however no action was taken and the charges could not be reversed.

This is only one example of a system failure. Without proactive auditing, vulnerable participants—particularly those with cognitive, communication or psychosocial disability—remain unprotected from financial exploitation.

Excessive Provider Charges Not Being Flagged

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In another case, a psychologist charged a 15-year-old $493 per session, billing four sessions in six weeks, totalling nearly $2,000. No alert system, no check, and no review occurred despite the unusually high rate.

I was able to detect it only because I actively monitor the participant’s portal.

Most families cannot, and do not know how. This is how people lose their funding silently.

There needs to be a system of automated alerts, spending caps, or flags for unusual billing patterns.

3. LACs and Planners – Ineffective and Inaccessible

Local Area Coordinators (LACs) are often unavailable, unresponsive, or unwilling to escalate issues. Participants are repeatedly redirected between NDIS and LAC teams, with neither taking responsibility. Meanwhile, urgent matters remain unresolved.

Planners regularly overlook evidence on Change of Circumstances submissions, forcing Support Coordinators to repeat documentation—doubling workloads, delaying supports, and unnecessarily consuming participant funding.

It is rare to speak to someone who reads documents thoroughly, understands complexity, or follows through with action. When mistakes occur, the participant absorbs the consequences.

4. Why This Matters

The people who suffer most from system weaknesses are those the NDIS exists to protect.

If funding was monitored properly from the beginning, if providers were audited routinely, and if planners and LACs were held accountable to respond, follow up, and read reports, we would not now be tightening budgets at the expense of those who rely on them to live.

Participants should not lose support hours because the system failed to safeguard their funds.

5. What Must Change

I respectfully recommend:

Reform Needed Purpose
Mandatory audit triggers for abnormal billing Protect participants from exploitation

Reform Needed

Purpose

  • Automatic portal alerts to participants & nominees
  • Transparency over spending in real time
  • Escalation deadlines for LAC response
  • Reduce case stagnation
  • Training and accountability standards for planners
  • Ensure evidence is read and used correctly
  • Greater support for coordinators to report misuse
  • Prevention is cheaper than correction

The NDIS must move from reactive to preventative oversight.

Closing Statement

I make this submission as a provider who deeply values the NDIS and believes in what it was built for. However, unless monitoring improves and accountability becomes standard practice, vulnerable Australians will continue to lose funding, lose support, and lose trust.

I appreciate the opportunity to voice these concerns and urge the Committee to address these issues with priority so that the NDIS remains fair, strong and sustainable for the future.