NDIS watchdog closes only one in three complaints on time as backlog nears 13,000
The National Disability Insurance Scheme’s regulator is closing only about one in three complaints within its own target time, with just under 13,000 complaints still open. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission aims to close half of all complaints within 90 days of lodgement. Over the past two quarters it has closed about one in three in that time.
The number of open complaints has fallen substantially. It peaked at more than 25,000 in January 2025, stood at 15,000 in March 2026, and is now just under 13,000, a reduction of about 52 per cent since July 2025. Participants say the delays have left them without support while they wait.
Becki Greene, who has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair, said months passed before an investigation into her complaint was opened, and that it happened only after the ABC made inquiries. “It shouldn’t have to take getting the media involved for participants to be heard,” Ms Greene said. She also described being left on hold for close to two hours, which she said was “completely unacceptable”. Elly Desmarchelier, who has autism and cerebral palsy, said she waited nine months without a response to a fraud complaint.
“I had three weeks where I did not have any support because I did not have funding to pay support workers,” she said. “If there is no threat of being held accountable, if you know you can get away with it, of course there is more opportunity to exploit disabled people.”
In other cases reported by the ABC, a participant waited four months for a case worker to be assigned to allegations of abuse, and another was left without support for three weeks after an alleged $16,000 fraud. Acting Commissioner Natalie Wade said complaints were “prioritised based on their urgency, seriousness and complexity” under a “risk-based prioritisation framework”. She said the Commission continued to invest in its people, systems and processes, and that performance had “significantly improved” since July 2025.A former senior manager at the Commission, who spoke anonymously, said the complaints team had been understaffed since it was established in 2016 and that a backlog appeared within three months of operation. They said complaints were routinely closed without the Commission speaking to the person who made them.
Mark Sweeney, a former senior National Disability Insurance Agency executive, said the volume of complaints continued to overwhelm the regulator despite the improvements.The Australian National Audit Office examined the Commission’s regulatory functions in a 2025 performance audit.
Sources
NDIS participants critical of Quality and Safeguards Commission response to complaints, ABC News, 28 September 2026
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
