Investigate, fix NDIS shambles

The story of unscrupulous National Disability Insurance Scheme provider Cocoon SDA Care, from a tiny family-run company bought on Gumtree five years ago to a rapidly expanding concern, staying one step ahead of authorities, underlines why its activities, and the administration of the $48.5bn NDIS, need thorough investigation. And for the sake of vulnerable clients and taxpayers, the scheme needs major reform.

One of the latest developments in the saga reported by national crime correspondent David Murray over the past fortnight is that the men behind Cocoon – ex-bankrupt, ex-taxi driver Zaffar Khan and his longtime business partner, Muhammad Latif – were able to keep operating despite failing audits and being the subject of a flood of complaints over more than four years. The scheme’s guardrails are weak and ineffective, which has prompted whistleblower Tanya Quinn, who worked for the company briefly and alerted former NDIS minister Bill Shorten about her concerns in 2023, to call for a commission of inquiry.

The scandal surrounding the company deepened on Sunday, Murray reports, with Cocoon accused of wrongly charging more than $77,000 for services to three dead people. Cocoon SDA Care’s parent company, Horizon Solsolutions Australia, defended its payment claims as being perfectly legitimate under NDIS rules. But the company concedes it needed to refund tens of thousands of dollars in payments for services to people who had died, blaming delays in notifying them of the deaths. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission watchdog also believes Horizon was paid $26,062.63 for “services that were never provided”, understood to relate to NDIS services for prisoners. In a sign a crackdown is finally under way, Mr Latif says Horizon offered on March 18 this year to refund the full $103,616 it was alleged to have wrongly charged for services to dead people and prisoners, while the NDIS commission considered the company’s response, but “the NDIA did not accept that offer”.

As Murray wrote on Saturday, Mr Khan, “has been able to grow while moving from one cowboy company to the next. All the while, he’s stayed off the books and a step ahead of ­authorities, discarding the used shell of one company to emerge in another guise”. How he has been able to do so, repeatedly, leaving vulnerable ­clients locked out of their homes, staff unpaid and a trail of distraught investors, goes to the heart of rising concerns about the scheme, which is one of the largest spending burdens on taxpayers. Health Minister Mark Butler, who has recently been given oversight of the NDIS, must overhaul regulatory systems to protect clients, staff and the public purse.