QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator McALLISTER (New South Wales—Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) (14:23): Thank you for the question, Senator Whiteaker, and I very much appreciate your focus on this life-changing scheme. You are right that this scheme must be safe, and it must operate with integrity. We have a very clear message for the people out there who think otherwise, and it is this: if you think that you can steal from the NDIS, we will come after you.

It is why, when we came to government, we established the Fraud Fusion Taskforce and why we invested in the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. The laws that we passed through this chamber earlier this year have given the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission even more powers and more teeth, and, in the last quarter alone, the commission issued 111 banning orders, the highest number ever recorded in a single quarter.

The taskforce brings together elite intelligence, data, forensic and investigative powers to disrupt serious organised crime that targets government payment programs, and that is delivering results. Since the Fraud Fusion Taskforce was established, more than 2,600 providers that submitted incorrect claims have been disrupted, more than 600 investigations have been launched, 27 crooks have been convicted and $50 million worth of assets have been seized.

In the last financial year alone, the Fraud Fusion Taskforce has sent 50 search warrants—investigating more than $118 million worth of NDIS claims—with 44 individuals referred for criminal prosecution, 16 fraud cases currently before the courts and 28 more being assessed by the CDPP. So it is a very clear message to shonks and to grifters: if you seek to drain the plans of people with a disability, you do not belong in the NDIS; you belong in prison, and that is where you will end up, because our crackdown on NDIS fraud is ramping up.

We are reviewing more claims, conducting more investigations and prosecuting more fraudsters than ever before. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Whiteaker, first supplementary?