'Milking it': Nat Barr slams Aussies taking advantage of the NDIS ahead of major shake-up to $50billion program

By CAITLIN POWELL - NEWS REPORTER and ZAC DE SILVA FOR AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: 00:37, 22 April 2026 | Updated: 00:37, 22 April 2026 Sunrise host Nat Barr has slammed Australians taking advantage of the National Disability Insurance Scheme as the Albanese government plans sweeping reforms. Health Minister Mark Butler is expected to announce a sweeping overhaul to the program on Wednesday, including changes to eligibility for support and tougher registration requirements for providers. The NDIS spending is the Commonwealth's second-fastest growing expense at about $50billion a year, behind only interest on government debt. During a morning interview with Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie and Labor MP Josh Burns, Barr took aim at Australians misusing the costly program. 'You talk to anyone in the community, everyone knows someone's milking it, and it's been years and years of people milking it,' she said, addressing McKenzie. 'It's just so frustrating for people because there are so many people who need it.' McKenzie said the Opposition 'actually wants to get this right, so it delivers for the people in need and we stop the rorting'.  'We've got NDIS providers offering 482 class visa classes to get workers in,' she said. Sunrise co-host Nat Barr (pictured with Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie) has slammed Australians taking advantage of the National Disability Insurance Scheme 'We've got certain suburbs in Sydney that have an exponential number of NDIS providers in comparison with the number of people with a disability in their communities. This scheme is running riot.' Her statement seemed to refer to unverified social media claims that a large number of NDIS providers are based in Lakemba, in the city's south-west.  But AAP FactCheck proved this to be untrue in March, reporting that the 1,300 provider figure was based on a list comprising providers from across the country, online services, inactive businesses, and duplicates. Australia's aged care and disability support sectors urgently need skilled workers. The government offers Skills in Demand visas (482) to make it easier for businesses to hire overseas talent if employees cannot be found in Australia. Barr asked Burns if his government is confident it can 'clean up' the NDIS. 'Well, we have to Nat... because the NDIS is there for people with a severe disability, a permanent disability, and it needs to be there for the future,' he said. 'If we let it just grow, it's going to be the biggest government program, the most expensive thing government does in Australia, and it's just not sustainable.' While the government has declared it would be negligent to allow the NDIS to continue growing at about 10 per cent a year, disability advocates have warned cuts to services would leave participants worse off. The Albanese government is planning sweeping reforms of the NDIS, which is the Commonwealth's second-fastest growing expense at about $50billion a year (stock image) 'Our community is scared and we want a surety that things are going to be OK,' People With Disability Australia president Jeramy Hope told AAP. He urged the government to focus on making the scheme more efficient by reducing bureaucracy, rather than cutting eligibility to save money. Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said while she understood the concerns of the disability community, the long-term viability of the NDIS needed to be addressed. 'I get that the disability community will be feeling a lot of this pressure,' she told reporters in Parliament House on Tuesday. 'But we have a lot of pressure to make sure this scheme actually is sustainable. 'We're finding an extra $35billion than what was originally intended a year - it's almost like we would be negligent if we just pretended that was OK,' Senator Gallagher said. On Tuesday, Mr Butler and Treasurer Jim Chalmers briefed state and territory officials, who are reluctant to agree to any changes which would require them to pay more. 'We can't have a situation where people are knocked off the NDIS and then the state provides the service, because it's still coming out of the same pockets of New South Wales taxpayers,' NSW Premier Chris Minns told reporters in Sydney. National Disability Services chief executive Michael Perusco backed the government's push for change, warning the scheme had strayed far beyond its original purpose of supporting people with a lifelong, significant disability. He also called for mandatory registration of all providers to make the scheme more transparent and accountable. 'At the moment, we've got the situation where only one out of 20 providers are registered. There isn't visibility of those other 19 providers, and that has to change,' Mr Perusco said. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. 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