The public servant was involved in the closure of a privately owned facility they liken to a ‘19th century asylum’
Tue 16 Jun 2020 13.30 EDT
Last modified on Tue 16 Jun 2020 13.31 EDT
A whistleblower who wants to expose claims of neglect and abuse in a supported boarding house says they cannot give evidence at the royal commission because it is unable to protect their identity.
Following calls from advocates and later the commission chair, Ronald Sackville, the Morrison government has been under pressure to introduce laws also used for the child sexual abuse royal commission that would permanently seal confidential submissions.
But it is yet to bring forward legislation, leaving the commission unable to guarantee witnesses confidentiality after the inquiry has handed down its final report in April 2022.
A public servant who spoke to Guardian Australia on the condition of anonymity said they were involved in the audit and closure of a privately owned facility where it is alleged residents lived in what they likened to a “19th century asylum”.
Some of the nearly 30 residents – who lived with intellectual and psychosocial disability, including a few who also had substance abuse issues – had their heads shaved because of lice and slept in soiled, mouldy beds in rooms which in certain cases smelled like vomit and faeces, the person claimed.
When the facility was finally shut down, the owners had their licence revoked and were forced to repay some of the residents, who forked out most of their disability support pension to cover the cost of their substandard food and accommodation.
But the case, which predates the full rollout to the NDIS, was never made public and the person is frustrated by a lack of action against the proprietors.
They also believe these types of assisted boarding houses, which are normally home to some of the most marginalised people with disabilities, are poorly regulated and should be banned.
“They [the owners] just had to pay back some money to the clients. It was appalling,” they alleged. “The sights and the smells, they just never get out of your head.”
The allegations come amid public anger following the shocking case of the Adelaide woman Ann Marie Smith, whose death in “degrading” conditions has prompted a police investigation and a national independent inquiry.
Smith was receiving full-time care at her own home through the NDIS, but she was malnourished when she was finally taken to hospital and died a day later.
The use of assisted boarding houses – or supported residential facilities – as accommodation for people with disabilities has been strongly criticised by peak body People With Disability Australia. Although the facilities are privately run, they can sometimes receive government funding or subsidies.
The public servant, whose current job involves auditing such facilities, said most residents were “extremely marginalised” and, like Smith, do not have “families or community connections … that are going to keep them safe”.
“Many of these people will be NDIS participants,” they said. “Their plans are then being facilitated by proprietors of these houses.”
The whistleblower said they had access to documents including letters from medical professionals and photographs of the facility that could be considered by the commissioners if their submission was permanently sealed.
“Bedding, sheets were unwashed, soiled, mouldy,” they claimed. “We found mattresses with springs extruding so a person could literally roll over and be stabbed by a spring.
“There was a room where there was only a mattress and someone was residing in there. They said that was the client’s choice.
“In a look on their finances, they were only spending under $20-a-week per person on food, and there were numerous instances where people were given the wrong medication or not given their medication at all,” it was also alleged.
At the facility that was shut down, one resident who had an intellectual disability died from pneumonia, although the facility was not implicated in the person’s death in a subsequent coroner’s report viewed by the Guardian.
Another resident was overcharged thousands of dollars, although the money was later paid back, the person claimed.
They said they would lose their job if they spoke on the record because they did not have approval from their employer to provide the evidence to the commission.
The Greens senator Jordon Steele-John said: “I have people contacting my office all the time – people who have lost all faith in the system because of the violence, abuse, exploitation or neglect they, or their family, have suffered – wanting to know when it will be safe for them to tell their stories,” he said.
“The government has already wasted the best part of a year, out of a royal commission process that has only been scheduled to take three years.”
The attorney general, Christian Porter, said: “The government recognises the importance of witnesses being able to give evidence safely and in confidence at royal commissions.
“I am now carefully considering options as to how we can best achieve that certainty.”
