Post by NFA on Jun 18, 2024 19:07:19 GMT 8
[ NFA says, this is a reprint of the last one of Rafe Champion's cuttings from his column today The tipping point. The end of the road for net zero. I figured it deserved its own featured post!]
NDIS: Greatest rip-off in history
Posted on : 13/06/2024 - by Paul Collits
ANYONE with the remotest direct knowledge of the NDIS, or of anyone attempting to access it, will know that it is not fit for purpose.
Of the two totally and permanently work-disabled people I know, one has just had his second application denied, and the other has been waiting – unable to leave his own house without help – for two years and is only now getting them to come and see him.
The NDIS eats up over $42b a year – almost our defence budget – on not helping people with genuine disabilities while feathering the nests of every crook under the sun. It is little wonder our economy is in the toilet.
Posted on : 13/06/2024 - by Paul Collits
ANYONE with the remotest direct knowledge of the NDIS, or of anyone attempting to access it, will know that it is not fit for purpose.
Of the two totally and permanently work-disabled people I know, one has just had his second application denied, and the other has been waiting – unable to leave his own house without help – for two years and is only now getting them to come and see him.
The NDIS eats up over $42b a year – almost our defence budget – on not helping people with genuine disabilities while feathering the nests of every crook under the sun. It is little wonder our economy is in the toilet.
That is one mighty growth industry. We seem to be becoming a disabled nation.
It is just about Australia’s only steadily growing industry, outside renewable energy.
NDIS is an endemic rort, not a minor scam.
I can only assume that many hundreds of thousands of Australians are in a similar position.
After the ongoing UniParty climate scam and ScoMo’s near trillion-dollar COVID scam, the NDIS would have to be the greatest rip-off in the history of Australian public policy.
MASSIVE
It is just about Australia’s only steadily growing industry, outside renewable energy.
NDIS is an endemic rort, not a minor scam.
I can only assume that many hundreds of thousands of Australians are in a similar position.
After the ongoing UniParty climate scam and ScoMo’s near trillion-dollar COVID scam, the NDIS would have to be the greatest rip-off in the history of Australian public policy.
MASSIVE
No doubt, there are other contenders, but we can set them aside for now.
The NDIS has it all – a non-solution not only in search of a non-problem but actually creating a new, massive problem.
It is a centraliser’s utopia; a seed-bed of crony socialism and a source of misery for thousands.
It is a spring of largesse for the inevitably outsourced “service providers” who have created a whole new industry, courtesy of the generosity and naivete of Howard-era privatising and out-sourcing theoreticians.
The NDIS has it all – a non-solution not only in search of a non-problem but actually creating a new, massive problem.
It is a centraliser’s utopia; a seed-bed of crony socialism and a source of misery for thousands.
It is a spring of largesse for the inevitably outsourced “service providers” who have created a whole new industry, courtesy of the generosity and naivete of Howard-era privatising and out-sourcing theoreticians.
There is more than enough meat here for both political scientists and public choice economists.
The cost of the scheme is as follows:
Total expenditure from the Commonwealth and States and territories on the NDIS is estimated at $36.7b in 2022–23 and is expected to be $41.9b in 2023–24, a growth rate of 14.4 per cent.
In the subsequent three years, the annual growth rates are projected to be 11.6, 10.9 and 7.9 per cent respectively.
The cost of the scheme is as follows:
Total expenditure from the Commonwealth and States and territories on the NDIS is estimated at $36.7b in 2022–23 and is expected to be $41.9b in 2023–24, a growth rate of 14.4 per cent.
In the subsequent three years, the annual growth rates are projected to be 11.6, 10.9 and 7.9 per cent respectively.
It costs about as much annually as Medicare and aged care (another disaster of public policy) combined.
It cost a billion dollars to set up in 2012.
Philippa Martyr noted then, at Quadrant Online: “The Federal government has recently committed $1 billion to start up a National Disability Insurance Scheme for as many as 20,000 people with serious lifetime disabilities, and their carers and families.”
Twenty thousand folks in 2012. The numbers now are, well, pretty arresting.
The NDIS Quarterly Report shows there are now more than 550,000 Australians with disability receiving support from the scheme.
Twenty thousand folks in 2012. The numbers now are, well, pretty arresting.
The NDIS Quarterly Report shows there are now more than 550,000 Australians with disability receiving support from the scheme.
About 23,000 new participants joined the NDIS this past quarter.
So, over 500,000 now, with more than the initial number now joining every quarter!
That is one mighty growth industry, right there. We seem to be becoming a disabled nation.
MAGIC
And, as I said at the outset, genuinely disabled people cannot get a start. Unless their medicos have the secret sauce, the magic code words to use in applications for entry to the scheme.
Of course, one of the many outsourced industries that has sprung up is the “I’ll get you into the NDIS for a fee” brigade.
So, over 500,000 now, with more than the initial number now joining every quarter!
That is one mighty growth industry, right there. We seem to be becoming a disabled nation.
MAGIC
And, as I said at the outset, genuinely disabled people cannot get a start. Unless their medicos have the secret sauce, the magic code words to use in applications for entry to the scheme.
Of course, one of the many outsourced industries that has sprung up is the “I’ll get you into the NDIS for a fee” brigade.
On the current NDIS budget, by comparison, we spend about $50b on defence these days, a core task of government in a world facing multiple global threats.
We spend nearly that on not helping people with genuine disabilities while feathering the nests of every crook under the sun.
It is little wonder that our economy is in the toilet, and relying on the Ponzi, mass immigration boondoggle to look like it is staying afloat.
Speaking of scammers, this is the current big story about the scheme, but it is only one of many.
We have all heard tales – or, perhaps, we haven’t – of recipients getting trips to Vanuatu for massage therapy.
These clearly only scratch the surface. The scheme has even recruited a senior copper to lead scam
investigations.
We spend nearly that on not helping people with genuine disabilities while feathering the nests of every crook under the sun.
It is little wonder that our economy is in the toilet, and relying on the Ponzi, mass immigration boondoggle to look like it is staying afloat.
Speaking of scammers, this is the current big story about the scheme, but it is only one of many.
We have all heard tales – or, perhaps, we haven’t – of recipients getting trips to Vanuatu for massage therapy.
These clearly only scratch the surface. The scheme has even recruited a senior copper to lead scam
investigations.
The scammers are part of the whole out-sourced cartel that, for the statisticians and Bernard Salt types, goes to the endless growth of the “social assistance” sector. A social assistance sector that does little in the way of socially assisting.
It is just about Australia’s only steadily growing industry, outside renewable energy. Here a better word than “scam” might be “rort”.
The Australian Financial Review noted in 2022: “The federal Labor government is reviewing a major loophole that has allowed 90 per cent of NDIS providers to be unregistered, largely avoiding safety and quality requirements and exposing the [then] $30b scheme to fraud and scams.”
It is just about Australia’s only steadily growing industry, outside renewable energy. Here a better word than “scam” might be “rort”.
The Australian Financial Review noted in 2022: “The federal Labor government is reviewing a major loophole that has allowed 90 per cent of NDIS providers to be unregistered, largely avoiding safety and quality requirements and exposing the [then] $30b scheme to fraud and scams.”
CRIMINALS
The ABC noted more recently: “Criminals manipulating participants in the NDIS have used their money to buy drugs, holidays and new cars.
“Among the instances of fraud of the $42 billion scheme were a $20,000 holiday and a $73,000 car.
“NDIS participants have also been forced to hand over cash for criminals to buy drugs, and later harassed by the fraudulent providers.”
The ABC noted more recently: “Criminals manipulating participants in the NDIS have used their money to buy drugs, holidays and new cars.
“Among the instances of fraud of the $42 billion scheme were a $20,000 holiday and a $73,000 car.
“NDIS participants have also been forced to hand over cash for criminals to buy drugs, and later harassed by the fraudulent providers.”
Then there was The Australian: “Billions in NDIS funds are being used to buy illicit drugs and other items ‘not consistent’ with participants’ plans, as agency officials revealed evidence indicating up to 90 per cent of plan managers were committing fraud.”
Ninety per cent? Not a “few bad apples” then.
It is an endemic rort, not a minor scam. It is one for the public choice theorists, who have told us over time about the way government agencies are captured by industry.
In the case of NDIS, government created the agency and the industry all by itself. Like Jerry Seinfeld throwing his car keys to the homeless person in the street and nodding meaningfully towards his stinky BMW.
Ninety per cent? Not a “few bad apples” then.
It is an endemic rort, not a minor scam. It is one for the public choice theorists, who have told us over time about the way government agencies are captured by industry.
In the case of NDIS, government created the agency and the industry all by itself. Like Jerry Seinfeld throwing his car keys to the homeless person in the street and nodding meaningfully towards his stinky BMW.
Finally, we go back to the AFR, which reports a senior “integrity” official with the scheme saying “it is too late to prosecute”. Oops.
Of course, the NDIS was the brainchild of Julia Gillard. It counts, sadly, as one of her few “achievements”.
Her other, equally hollow non-achievement was being our first female prime minister. She now chairs the Wellcome Trust, a British-based global eugenics outfit.
I guess she might also claim the $400m+ Royal Commission into Getting the Catholic Church into Strife over an ancient and over-hyped problem.
That was payback for a priest-chasing Victorian (where else?) lawyer called Vivian Waller, who had helped young Julia secure a seat in parliament in the 1990s.
Of course, the NDIS was the brainchild of Julia Gillard. It counts, sadly, as one of her few “achievements”.
Her other, equally hollow non-achievement was being our first female prime minister. She now chairs the Wellcome Trust, a British-based global eugenics outfit.
I guess she might also claim the $400m+ Royal Commission into Getting the Catholic Church into Strife over an ancient and over-hyped problem.
That was payback for a priest-chasing Victorian (where else?) lawyer called Vivian Waller, who had helped young Julia secure a seat in parliament in the 1990s.
GRUMPY
The NDIS is now overseen by the endlessly grumpy looking Bill Shorten, another Labor failure.
Of course, it all worsened on the Liberals’ watch. They were there for nearly a decade. I know it wasn’t their idea
Of course, Shorten blames the Liberals for the mess, without saying how they had done this: “Minister Shorten said a decade of Liberal mismanagement of the Scheme had left Australians with the worst of both worlds: an NDIS costing $50b by 2025-26 but that too often under-delivered for people with disability.”
Shorten is both right and wrong and inevitably glib, of course. But you either kill-off these things altogether, or fix them.
The NDIS is now overseen by the endlessly grumpy looking Bill Shorten, another Labor failure.
Of course, it all worsened on the Liberals’ watch. They were there for nearly a decade. I know it wasn’t their idea
Of course, Shorten blames the Liberals for the mess, without saying how they had done this: “Minister Shorten said a decade of Liberal mismanagement of the Scheme had left Australians with the worst of both worlds: an NDIS costing $50b by 2025-26 but that too often under-delivered for people with disability.”
Shorten is both right and wrong and inevitably glib, of course. But you either kill-off these things altogether, or fix them.