A $50 billion NDIS is proving too tempting for Australia’s rich listers

The dramatic plan announced by Health Minister Mark Butler this week to reel in the extraordinary cost of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme will not have stopped preparations of a different sort that are under way in financial markets.

Mable, an online marketplace for support workers, is reportedly exploring a potential stock market listing that could make it the first $1 billion company spawned by the $50 billion-odd scheme.

Founder Peter Scutt set up the business with a focus on finding a solution to the frustrating process of getting appropriate aged care for his parents, but business has clearly exploded with the NDIS and made the company very valuable.

As he told The Australian Financial Review in 2019, when professional investors and private equity started funding the business: “We are clearly a for-profit and for-purpose organisation.”

Investors at the time included the former boss of pokies manufacturer Aristocrat, Jamie Odell. He was soon joined by US private equity firm General Atlantic, which caters to wealthy US clients and also recently invested in Lebanese chicken chain El Jannah.

Another Mable co-owner is Ellerston Capital, which was set up by the Packer family to manage their fortune. Ellerston, which is still run by former Kerry Packer lieutenant Ashok Jacob, now caters to other wealthy Australian families.

The most recent Ellerston update to investors reported just how much its $16 million investment in 2019 has soared. It’s up more than 650 per cent to a valuation of more than $107 million as of January this year.

“The key tailwind in the sector has been the shift in government policy to consumer direct spending and away from funding grants to care provider organisations,” Ellerston said in its shareholder update. Most of the business’s potential lies in the NDIS.

“Total addressable market for the platform is $33 billion (disability support $25 billion plus aged home care $8 billion) out of which Mable has less than 1 per cent penetration,” Ellerston said.

Mable is not alone in providing a vehicle for wealthy Australians to make more money from Australia’s disability scheme.

Craig Tozer, former head of another chicken franchise, Oporto, is with Sydney private equity group LVP, one of the private equity groups behind Zenitas, which provides disability and aged care services.

Retail billionaire Brett Blundy, whose businesses include ASX-listed fashion jewellery chain Lovisa, is also a player. His private equity group, BBRC, is reportedly an investor in Independent Living Specialists, which says it is Australia’s largest supplier of walkers and mobility scooters.

BBRC did not respond to requests for comment.

Of course, the NDIS was set up to give people with a disability access to the private market, and the scheme as it stands would not function without some of the businesses in it.

In a report supporting the scheme’s creation, the Productivity Commission noted that a market for disability services, in contrast to direct provision by the state or charities, would let people buy mainstream products, help drive competition and mean that “people with disabilities get higher-quality services”.

Butler’s plan will introduce more government intervention, but is not expected to change the market’s core role within the NDIS.

The minister’s plan is to cut the overall number of participants from 760,000 Australians currently on the scheme to around 600,000, which would cut $15 billion from the forecast cost of the scheme by 2030.

The United Workers Union has previously accused some for-profit businesses of using the NDIS “like an ATM”.

“The National Disability Insurance Scheme exists to put people with disability first. The United Workers Union has consistently said the NDIS must prioritise participants, quality support and a stable, well-resourced workforce,” a spokeswoman said.

But out of all the for-profit providers, only Mable has accounts lodged with the corporate regulator that give an idea of just how fast its business is growing.

Mable’s parent entity, Attain Healthtech, reported a 45 per cent jump in revenue for the year ending June 30, 2025 to $105 million. It also reported a net profit of more than $1.1 million.

More importantly, the company is reporting strong cashflow, generating more than $12.4 million from its operations for the year.

Responding to queries about the Financial Review report of Mable’s potential public float on the ASX, Mable’s chief financial officer Emma Clark said: “We do not comment on market speculation. Like many growing Australian businesses, we regularly explore options to accelerate our growth, so we can continue to support our customers in the ways that matter most, both today and into the future.

“Our growth represents the tremendous trust our customers place in us for their in-home care services across aged care, disability support and out-of-hospital care. And it is a testament to the positive impact our business model is having on the lives of tens of thousands of Australians every day.”

But the push for profit led to Mable falling foul of the competition watchdog last year. Mable admitted to using unfair contract terms – including fines of up to $5000 – when connecting customers to independent support workers, in a court-enforceable undertaking accepted by the ACCC.

The commission cited an example of a support worker leaving the Mable platform being liable to pay the penalty to Mable if, within 12 months of leaving, they continued their care arrangement with a client they were introduced to through the platform.

“We were concerned Mable’s unfair contract terms potentially disadvantaged its clients, about half of whom are NDIS participants, as well as the support workers operating as sole traders or small businesses,” ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said at the time of the announcement.

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