00:01In late 2024, strict lists were introduced by the agency that runs the NDIS, the NDIA,
00:09and those lists dictated what could and could not be funded by NDIS money.
00:17Now, it has found that an analysis or an audit of multiple providers done by the agency,
00:24the NDIA, has found that about 40% of providers continued to charge for some of the banned
00:31therapies, for example, animal therapy, recreational activities like personal training and also golf
00:37lessons, including one provider that actually made around a million dollars by charging inflated
00:42prices for these particular therapies. Now, they were able to do this through charging under a line
00:49item known as other professional. And that is a line item that is set aside where people providing
00:56services need to prove, A, that there is an evidence base for the therapy they are delivering,
01:02and B, that they are delivering that therapy based on specific qualifications. And so the
01:09government has looked at that now. And one of the measures it has introduced is, for example,
01:15previously under that other professional category, uh, providers could charge $193 an hour. That has
01:24been reduced now to $156. So, Naz, how is the government going about tackling this loophole?
01:31Well, it's basically saying it is going to strengthen the regulations, increase oversight over these
01:37providers, uh, and really by changing the, um, charges as well and ensuring that, um, the things that are
01:45banned on that list, uh, for example, the animal therapy or the recreational therapies, um, that it, it says
01:53that particularly don't have an evidence base, um, simply cannot be claimed.
01:58Naz, there's also a Senate hearing taking place today, looking at a draft legislation making way for
02:03billions of dollars worth of cuts to the NDIS. Tell us more about that. What's it's expected to hear?
02:09Yeah, look, fraud is just one portion of, uh, savings that the NDIS is trying, um, to, uh, identify
02:17as a way to find around more than $30 billion worth of savings over the next four years. Fraud is
02:23a portion
02:24of that. Um, there is legislation that is being looked at at the moment through a Senate inquiry.
02:30Dozens of people have given evidence over the last two days. More than 4,000 written submissions
02:36have been submitted about this draft legislation. And this legislation, if and when it gets up, will
02:43really pave the way for the government to be able to make that more than $30 billion worth of savings
02:49over the next four years. Some of the amendments include increasing the, uh, expectation on the role of
02:55parents as carers, um, increasing powers to the minister. Uh, and we are set to hear more evidence
03:02today from academics and also the health services union, uh, as to what they think about the draft
03:08legislation.
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