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Individuals with disabilities are reportedly being enticed with offers of cash, food, mobile phones, and other gifts to switch service providers or enroll in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
After signing up, many find their plans quickly depleted of funds, with promised support never coming to fruition, leaving them isolated and without care.
These allegations are part of a series of complaints highlighted in a fresh report by disability advocacy groups in conjunction with the Darwin Community Legal Service. They accuse certain NDIS providers of exploiting vulnerable individuals across the Northern Territory.
“Every week, people are being lured with promises of phones or fast food to change providers,” said an anonymous disability advocate based in Katherine, NT.
In the Northern Territory, the rate of disability among Indigenous people is nearly double that of non-Indigenous individuals, with Indigenous people making up 51 percent of all NDIS participants in the region.
Many of those participants live in or come from a remote or very remote community, where social disadvantage, limited services, and language barriers leave them vulnerable to exploitation.
‘No way to pay for help’
The report claims providers are misrepresenting themselves, telling participants they work for the NDIS or the well-established National Financial Planner, which provides tailored disability support and life insurance.
The report claims in some cases these representatives have approached people who look like they have a disability in hospitals, dialysis wards, and carparks.
Once documents have been signed, providers are able to draw funds from a participant’s NDIS plan. In many cases, ‘over servicing’ is leaving participants without money to pay for ongoing care.
“Plans that should last a year are being drained in two months. Then people have nothing left and no way to pay for help,” said an anonymous service provider in Tennant Creek.
One of the complaints in the report involves a 36-year-old non-verbal Aboriginal man with an acquired brain injury.
When his regular provider arrived to deliver scheduled support, another provider was already in the home and claimed the participant had engaged them independently.
An investigation found the new provider had allocated 35 hours of support per week, despite the participant’s approved NDIS plan only allowing for seven hours per week.
Further review discovered that the worker had taken possession of the participant’s personal bank, Centrelink, and ID cards.
‘Manupulation of relationships’
Another complaint found a provider had allegedly coerced a participant’s sister to transfer her to their organisation by offering $5,000 and a car.
The sister then attempted to remove the participant from a stable home and move her to another facility.
Despite the participant’s objections, the new provider arranged for a cognitive assessment to be conducted by a registered nurse who concluded that the participant had reduced decision making capacity.
A report was submitted seeking to appoint the sister as guardian, effectively attempting to override the participant’s autonomy.
“It’s not just the inducement; it’s the manipulation of relationships,” said an anonymous disability advocate in Alice Springs.
“People are being convinced by family and providers to take actions that strip participants of their independence.”
Another anonymous advocate in Alice Springs said many who were being targeted are unaware they are engaging with unscrupulous providers.
“Aboriginal clients often believe anyone using the NDIS name must be official,” they said.
“They don’t realise these are private businesses.”
Calls for greater oversight
Advocates and providers across the NT said they were losing faith in the NDIS complaints process.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission “rarely follows up on serious complaints”, according to the report.
“It’s quite concerning that these providers, who are repeat offenders, continue to operate without any sanction at all,” Scott Richardson, a disability advocate based in Alice Springs, told the ABC.
A spokesperson from the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission told NITV, the commission is increasing its “compliance and enforcement efforts in the Northern Territory”.
“We will continue to strengthen oversight in the Northern Territory to ensure people with disability are treated with dignity, safety and respect,” the spokesperson said.