TV interview with Minister McAllister, ABC News Afternoon Briefing – 30 July 2026

Media event date: 30 July 2026 Date published: 30 July 2026 Media type: General public PATRICIA KARVELAS: You've released new data today, and it shows that you've rejected 1000s of NDIS claims in the last nine months. Requested funding for services that were never actually delivered. What kinds of services are being requested and then not delivered?

JENNY MCALLISTER: Look, we're really concerned about the operation of the plan management market because the thing about that data is it relates to claims that were submitted by plan managers, and our concern is that plan managers are making claims against participants' plans where that service was not delivered, and we can't allow that to stand. This scheme is life-changing.

It's a human rights achievement, and it has to operate with integrity. And that's the reason that the legislation before the parliament creates a framework where, in the future, plan managers will be commissioned by the government. The market is not delivering the quality or the integrity that we require, and we intend to change that.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: And your legislation plans to concentrate the plan management market by having an approved list of operators. How will you be confident those operators are legit and deliver? JENNY MCALLISTER: At the moment, about 50 percent of the plan management market is met by about 20 providers, but then we have a really long tail, about 1,500 providers, many of which are very small-and we know from an examination of the smallest 1000 of those providers that nine out of 10 of those have a red flag for integrity concerns.

That usually means something like exclusive dealings, i.e. they've got just one client, or conflicted dealings. They are providing plan management services, but also marking their own homework. They're ticking off invoices created by a company that they themselves own or have an interest in, we don't commission them.

I.e. we set up a panel with a range of providers. We'll be able to set the standard. We'll be able to require certain kinds of integrity measures.

We'll be able to ask them to maintain good data about the kinds of claims that they are approving. We're confident that we can maintain choice and control for participants and make sure that they get the quality services that they can rightfully expect. PATRICIA KARVELAS: The Greens say all of your focus needs to be on fraud, not on the participants.

How large of a proportion of your savings in this NDIS bill come from a crackdown in compliance? JENNY MCALLISTER: Three things here, Patricia. This scheme needs to be sustainable.

At the moment, it is growing too fast, and it costs much more than we ever expected. Secondly, the services have to be of good quality, and thirdly, it needs to operate with integrity. On that third matter, it really doesn't generate significant savings to government.

If someone is ripping off a participant, taking money that should rightfully be theirs and pocketing it as a provider, when we disrupt that, the benefit flows to the participant. It doesn't represent a saving to government. So this isn't a really good measure of the extent to which we're tackling these concerns, the budget contains really significant investments to crack down on fraud.

The infrastructure we've built since we came to government is yielding results. We're seeing more banning orders, more convictions, more deregistrations, more registrations refused. That's a good thing, but it's not the source of savings to government.

So at the same time, we do need to make sure that the scheme is sustainable. It's on track to cost more than $100 billion by the middle of next decade. If we don't intervene, we don't think that's sustainable.

But we do think we can manage that issue, that we can return it to a sustainable level, and maintain the human rights objectives that it's designed to serve. PATRICIA KARVELAS: Minister, the NDIS inquiry is back up and running. Testimony today that the bill that you've put before the Parliament gives the government the ability to raise debts automatically against participants without the person being asked to respond before a debt is raised.

Isn't that just like Robodebt? JENNY MCALLISTER: Let's be really clear, Patricia. We will not repeat the mistakes that were made by previous government in relation to automation… PATRICIA KARVELAS: That's what this is, though.

If they don't have a chance to… JENNY MCALLISTER: This sets up a safeguard arrangement, and that is not a correct characterisation of the current practices of the agency in dealing with debt management, nor my expectations about the future. With vulnerable cohorts, raising debts is an incredibly sensitive decision that needs to be handled very carefully. The current practice is that any debt that's raised by the NDIA against a participant, and be clear-it's very limited, very small numbers-is subject to review by very senior members of the organization, and any participant or their nominee can ask for that to be reconsidered if they believe it to be wrong.

These are really important safeguards, and any debt management policy that we oversee will include safeguards that protect people against the excesses of the past. PATRICIA KARVELAS: The Thriving Kids program is meant to begin soonish. Is Queensland where you actually are any closer to signing up?

JENNY MCALLISTER: Look, this is a really important and actually quite exciting initiative. We know that we can roll out services closer to where families and kids are at the moment, and get them those services quicker than the current arrangements under the NDIS, and that's good news for families and it's good news for kids. Every state and territory signed up to this in the context of an agreement where significantly more money was also put into public hospitals, and in Queensland that was more than $5 billion extra for their public hospital system, we expect them to deliver on this commitment.

I actually believe that the people of Queensland expect them to deliver on this. Other states are making really pleasing progress. Victoria has made some terrific announcements about what they plan to do.

I'm looking forward to seeing Queensland get on board and get on with delivering this for the people here. PATRICIA KARVELAS: Thank you so much for joining us. JENNY MCALLISTER: Thanks Patricia.

Senator the Hon Jenny McAllister Disability and carers Accessibility We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to Elders both past and present. © Commonwealth of Australia