Court records viewed by The Australian revealed a total of five offenders on packages in excess of $400,000 a year, including “AH” (a pseudonym) on an annual $1,347,400.83 grant, covering specialist disability accommodations, daily living skills, and ­behaviour support.

That grant was downgraded from over $2.5m in 2024.

Due to a “significant intellectual impairment”, AH has never had a job and cannot read or write. AH’s offending includes aggravated burglary and motor vehicle theft.

“ZBA” (a pseudonym) from Queensland, a pedophile convicted of a serious sexual offence against a four-year-old girl, receives a $415,000 package, including 12-hour daily support. His supervision order is in place until 2035.

Others include “violent” offender Bianca Underwood on $431,451.03, axe assaulter Benjamin Michael Ryan, who received a $400,000 grant, and Wayne Wilmot, involved in the 1988 abduction, rape and murder of Sydney woman Janine Balding on $221,620.

In several cases, NDIS participation was viewed as an “ameliorating factor in the assessment of risk”, according to one ­Supreme Court trial judge who oversaw the release of serial sexual offender Bruce Leslie Brown in 2025.

Brown’s offending spans two decades and five states, beginning with the knifepoint assault of a pregnant woman in Albury and a 2015 street attack where he pinned a 53-year-old woman to the ground and exposed her breasts and vagina.

A diagnosed paraphiliac, Brown has a history of supervisions order breaches, including tampering with his electronic bracelet, using encrypted messaging services to contact women and possessing child abuse material. He will remain in the community until at least April 2027, when his extended supervision order will once again be reviewed.

Investigations by The Australian identified 45 criminals who had accessed NDIS benefits at the time of publication.

A spokesperson for NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister said: “All governments accept that someone who has served a custodial sentence can access services they are eligible for, whether that is the NDIS, health system, aged care or community services. State and territory criminal justice systems are responsible for ensuring that individuals comply with legal orders and conditions, including monitoring and supervising individuals to prevent or detect offending behaviour.

“Any NDIS participant convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment of at least two years is now agency managed to ensure that taxpayers’ money is used appropriately.

“Under the Liberals, NDIS participants in the criminal justice system were previously self-managed or plan managed.”