Radio interview with Minister McAllister, ABC Adelaide Breakfast – 19 August 2026
Media event date: 19 August 2026 Date published: 19 August 2026 Media type: General public JULES SCHILLER : Good Morning to you Jenny McAllister. JENNY MCALLISTER: Good morning. JULES SCHILLER : Let's start with some of the fraud actions that you plan to take.
I mean, many Australians have been concerned about, you know, agencies claiming for services not delivered, duplicate invoices, over-claiming. We even had a case of one the providers marching someone to an atm and demanding they withdraw cash. These are shocking allegations.
What are these reforms going to do to combat those? JENNY MCALLISTER: They are shocking allegations and they make me very angry when I hear about people exploiting people with disability. It is disgraceful.
This Scheme was left a soft target by the previous Government and under our Government, we have made very significant investments, more than $1.3 billion in standing up the systems and the people that can fight and tackle this behaviour. This bill introduces a range of new powers for the NDIA. It includes the ability to obtain a warrant, to bring people in for questioning, it requires providers and participants to keep documents for a period of time and to provide those documents when requested that substantiate their claiming behaviour.
It's another raft of powers in an increasing arsenal of capability to tackle fraud in this life-changing scheme. JULES SCHILLER : I mean, many people will be wondering why this wasn't done earlier, because these examples, some of them I gave, you know, these go back years. JENNY MCALLISTER: We came to government determined to deal with this problem.
The Scheme was left a soft target for a long time and unfortunately we've heard evidence from the AFP and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, that increasingly organised syndicates are targeting government payment programs. We have been taking very significant steps in the first term of government to clean this up. We are now banning more people, refusing more registrations, taking more prosecutions into the courts and disrupting more providers than was ever possible.
And just as an example, in a single day, say today, we will examine more claims for integrity than the previous Government examined in an entire year. But there is more to do and this leg gives us new powers to tackle what is a very serious problem in the Scheme. SONYA FELDHOFF: Minister, notwithstanding the support that many have for tackling the fraud element of the NDIS program there are going to be many people who have been participants in this program who will no longer get the entitlements they have been used to.
Are you confident they will be looked after under the alternative methods, including programs like Thriving Kids? JENNY MCALLISTER: Our objectives in this reform were to make sure that the Scheme operates with integrity and to make sure that it is sustainable in the long term. And I think most Australians accept that the Scheme had grown much larger than was expected.
It was supporting many more people and cost more. And so we have put in place reforms that we believe can be delivered safely, can make the Scheme sustainable, and we'll see the people with the most significant disabilities looked after in the long term. SONYA FELDHOFF: But we're only six weeks away, aren't we, from Thriving Kids we haven’t anything from our State Government as far as I know in any great detail about what that will look like.
Are you going to just leave it to State Governments like ours or will you have some sort of oversight over that. JENNY MCALLISTER: Great question. So we're starting Thriving Kids on the 1st of October, but we don't expect the Scheme to be fully rolled out until 2028.
That's why we're deferring any changes to access to the Scheme until 2028 to give us time to stand up these supports. I do meet with my State and Territory colleagues really regularly we met last Friday including the South Australian Minister and at that meeting all States and Territories presented information about their preparations for the rollout in October.
It'll start with some initiatives, the full rollout won't be completed until 2028, and that's timed to align with the changes to access. JULES SCHILLER : Obviously, when you cut so much from the scheme, and many Australians would agree that the scheme was becoming unaffordable, you know, it's a blunt instrument. So we're going to lose programs that, you know, many people might think were extravagant, but you're also going to lose programs that many people would see as vital.
I think we had a case of somebody with autism who mows lawns and it was part of their identity, helped create confidence for them. Are you confident that we can keep the good parts of the NDIS and lose the extravagant parts. Because obviously it's a blunt instrument, the Federal Government.
JENNY MCALLISTER: The reforms that we're proposing are comprehensive and there are a range of different things we're doing to make sure that the Scheme will be sustainable in the long term. So I don't agree with the characterisation that it's a blunt instrument. In fact, many of the things that we're doing will be implemented in the coming years in consultation with people with disability.
When we're completed, this will still be the second largest Commonwealth in the program, program after the aged pension. It will still be a program that costs in the order of $55 billion a year, but it won't cost $70 billion a year, which was the projection for 2030 if we didn't intervene. I am confident that we can do this well and we can do it in a way that protects the human rights of people with disability and delivers against the Scheme’s original intent.
SONYA FELDHOFF: This is the voice of the Federal NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister here on 891 ABC Adelaide with Sonya and Jules. Minister, part of the program yes, we won't be spending that money, but there are many people who live with a disability who just to live life in the way that those of us who have ability can, have things like the community support. Now, many of those hours are being cut back.
Their lives are not going to be the same are they, after these cuts. JENNY MCALLISTER: We acknowledge that the changes to social and community participation are a change and they will have an impact on some people within the Scheme. But we think that they're necessary and we think they can be done safely.
The point I do want to make is that social and community participation will continue to be a feature of the Scheme. And we do think it's important for people with disability to be able to participate in their communities. We’re standing up a $200 million fund, the Inclusive Communities Fund that will provide support for mainstream community organisations to open their doors and be accessible to people with disability in the way that they really always should have been.
JULES SCHILLER: Before you leave us, Minister, very quickly, when will people start noticing these changes? JENNY MCALLISTER: Look, the first changes kick in almost immediately. The fraud powers that we spoke about earlier commence almost immediately after Royal Assent.
Some of the changes in relation to your ability to request an unscheduled reassessment also start quite quickly, but beyond that, there are some changes that start in October, others in years' time. We’re going to work really directly with the disability community and participants to give them good information so they know what to expect and our message is if you're on the Scheme, keep using your plan as you do at the moment.
If there are changes you'll hear from the NDIA, you'll have good information about what it means for you. JULES SCHILLER : Jenny McAllister thank you for your time, she is the Federal NDIS Minister. 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.
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