September 2026

The NDIS has become one of Australia’s greatest scandals, with myriad problems resulting in people in need not receiving the care and support they deserve.

Bureaucracy Beat has highlighted the problems on several occasions, in particular the number of bogus providers who have rorted the system, wasting billions of dollars of public money.

The latest revelation is that hundreds of Queensland NDIS providers have been banned, had their registration revoked or issued compliance notices.

The Courier-Mail newspaper reported on 9 September that hundreds of NDIS providers across Queensland have been reprimanded for a raft of failings as the Federal Government scrambles to clean-up the mess created by poor administration of the scheme.

The Courier-Mail reported: “Tens-of-thousands of Queenslanders living with disabilities rely on the NDIS to live a meaningful and comfortable life, yet some providers continue to take advantage of the system.”

Since 2019 the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has reprimanded 622 NDIS providers in Queensland alone – with banning orders, compliance notices, re-register refusals, revocation of registration, and suspension of registrations – with around 120 of them issued a banning notice.

Breaching an active order can lead to federal court penalties up to $1.6 million for companies and $330,000 for individuals.

Some of the more extreme cases would horrify most people.

The Courier-Mail reported that, in Hervey Bay, one NDIS worker was banned and jailed after giving drugs to a client with the mental capacity of a child, before performing sexual acts on him.

In Bundaberg, a woman posing as a disability carer collected almost $100,000 from logging claims of cleaning and errands she never completed for her clients, using the money to help fund a lifestyle of meth use and gambling.

This person was registered as an NDIS approved carer in 2018 and accumulated over $97,000 in false claims over 18 months, before being arrested. After pleading guilty to two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception in the Bundaberg District Court, she was sentenced to two-and-a-half years’ jail and ordered to pay $50,000 in reparation.

Queenslanders with Disability Network chief executive Michelle Moss said people living with disability had the right to “safe, high-quality supports that uphold dignity, choice and control”.

“Where providers fail to meet critical safety and safeguarding requirements, there must be timely regulatory action to protect people from harm,” Ms Moss said.

“Queenslanders with disability must be able to raise concerns safely, be heard and have confidence that complaints will lead to action where needed. They also need the funded supports they require to live their day to day life.”

How to make a complaint about a provider or worker

Here’s what the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission suggests people do if they have a problem or a complaint:

What we can help you with:-

You’re an NDIS participant, provider, worker, family, friend, advocate, or a member of the public, and you’re aware any of these are happening:

• experiencing neglect, abuse, or mental health impacts while accessing NDIS supports
• risk of harm or injury
• risk of supports stopping or are low quality
• a provider not responding to complaints effectively or not responding at all
• not receiving the supports funded by an NDIS plan
• you suspect NDIS funds are being misused
• you suspect an NDIS provider is charging an unfair price
• you believe an NDIS provider or worker has breached a participant’s privacy, has a conflict of interest, is taking advantage of a participant, or is using unfair practices to attract participants.

Call 1800 035 544 (free call from landlines) or TTY 133 677.
Interpreters can be arranged. 
Open: Monday to Friday  9am – 5pm 
Closed: Public holidays in your state or territory.

The website says: “You don’t have to tell us your name when you report an issue or concern. You can choose for your report to be: 

• anonymous – we don’t collect or record your name or contact details, we can’t let you know about updates or outcomes
• confidential – we don’t share any information that would identify you to others who are involved, we can give you information about progress.

For more detail and more options, go to ndiscommission.gov.au/complaints/report