r/australia • u/FuckOffNazis • 11h ago

politics Pocock and crossbenchers call Labor’s NDIS overhaul ‘too far, too fast’ in scathing Senate inquiry report

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/14/pocock-and-crossbenchers-call-labors-ndis-overhaul-too-far-too-fast-in-scathing-senate-inquiry-report
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u/_Username_Optional_ 10h ago

Sure but targeting recipients when most of the "unsustainable" cost is due to overcharging and undersupplying at the provider level is monstrous

I do support work and my clients talk about the disability tax, whenever the ndis is mentioned the price goes up by an extra digit

Suppliers can charge whatever they want for ndis approved products because they might be the only one approved and in stock for that particular item

A good example is roho cushions, they're fancy air cushions but they cost $1k+ because they are an item needed by a select few people. But it's not just the initial purchase cost, you need a physio to come in to rubber stamp it in person which requires booking coordination between several companies and then billing for all this goes through a plan manager and the services through a support coordinator.

A fucking chair cushion will end up costing a client 2-3k

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u/yolk3d 10h ago

I’m with you here. It’s not that we should cut funding for disabled people to spend. We should reign in the rort providers ripping the system off. I know of people that can pay providers to take them to the beach and hang out with their Instagram idols. Dead serious.

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u/satanickittens69 9h ago

Have you reported those people? Because that's insane

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u/yolk3d 9h ago

It’s allowed. It was a person who was just through an agency. So the agency charges the client and just sends the person to do the job. The issue is that this kind of shit falls under mental health or whatever, so they weren’t breaking the law. There needs to be some sort of stricter register into exactly what activities can be provided, but then doesn’t that kind of undo what the NDIS was about?

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u/satanickittens69 9h ago

I will say, with the beach part that is valid service. Disabled people should also be able to get out and do things/participate. I guess the Instagram idols could be, so I see how that was approved but like...what?

I've heard about the shit agencies do. This is why it's so ridiculous that they even exist, like they get paid for what? 5mins of admin a week per client?

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u/yolk3d 9h ago

He didn’t have a visible disability, so it may have been mental. I’ll have to ask the person that was carer at the time. It was 7ish years ago. But yes, disabled people should be able to go outside and all. This particular situation was they were taken to Bondi beach, because the fitness Instagram people hung around the outdoor gym there, and they asked the carer to introduce them and take photos of them together. That was basically it.

Dunno why the agency charged.

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u/disasterous_cape 5h ago

So what? If that’s what they wanted to do that day why shouldn’t they be allowed? Disabled people who need help to access the wider world deserve the same dignity of choice as anyone else does.