25/03/2026
There is no community in this country that cares more about fraud in the NDIS than disabled people and our families. Because when fraud occurs, when we are the victims of fraud, it’s more than a headline. It’s more than a sound bite. It is the supports that help us get out of bed, go to work, get to hospital when we’re sick, and see our friends — that’s what’s taken away from us.
In my community, there is a saying — I think it originated with Lindsay Carter — it’s an acronym: PLA, people living off the disabled. That acronym was brought into our community’s language to add a little dark humour to a deeply insidious reality, one we have lived with for decades.
In the years after the end of institutionalisation, when disabled people and our allies broke free from state-run institutions, there were — as there still are — individuals who sought to establish a parasitic financial relationship with disabled people, exploiting our moment of liberation for their own profit. These people existed before the NDIS was created. They saw a community made vulnerable by a lack of safeguards, by dehumanisation and discrimination, and they took advantage of that. They saw an opportunity to make money.
When the NDIS was created, the government failed to fully reckon with that reality. It failed to put in place safeguards strong enough to prevent exploitation and abuse. That is a fact. The Quality and Safeguards Commission has, at times, failed as a regulator. Work is being done to strengthen it, but for many, it is far too little and far too late.
We are now in a moment where large corporations are rapidly buying up providers, consolidating control of the disability sector and finding new ways to financially exploit disabled people. This is real, and it must be addressed.
But this inquiry — this attempt to establish a publicly funded mechanism in the name of disabled people, under the guise of investigating fraud and abuse — is itself a form of political fraud. What we are seeing is politicians living off the disabled. Politicians claiming to be allies while spending years pushing some of the most harmful and ableist narratives this parliament has seen.
We’ve heard claims that the supports disabled people rely on to live — the very supports funded by the NDIS — are “ridiculous” or “absurd.” These views are not isolated. Recent media reporting has helped build a false and damaging narrative about what the NDIS is and who it supports. Headlines suggesting billions are wasted on trivial things do real harm. They distort reality and reinforce stigma.
As disability advocate Hannah Divney said: having to pay for support to access the same freedoms others take for granted is not laziness or exploitation — it is the reality of disabled life. A reality too often warped by media, politics, and those in power.
Disabled people are not the enemy. We are not a problem to be managed, a budget line to be cut, or a political football. People work every day to challenge outdated perceptions of disability, and this kind of fear-driven narrative pushes us backwards.
If we want to tackle fraud, then let’s do it properly. Go after the large providers. Hold them accountable. If executives have done the wrong thing, they should face real consequences.
But do not create a false equivalence between systemic exploitation by those with power and the legitimate needs of disabled people to access basic supports — to live independently, participate in the community, build relationships, work, and raise families.
If politicians want to understand disability, they should listen to disabled people. They should hear what it means to rely on support for everyday tasks — to coordinate your life around others, to give up control and privacy just to participate in the world.
This is not theoretical. It is deeply personal, and it is difficult to understand unless you have lived it.
It is profoundly frustrating to see something as important as the NDIS, and as serious as the exploitation of disabled people, turned into a political opportunity. Disabled people are not tools for headlines or fundraising.
If there is to be a serious conversation about the NDIS, then let it be grounded in truth, respect, and evidence — not ableism, not fear, and not political opportunism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LPLKIu4y68
