The Hon. Alan Robertson SC was appointed to conduct an independent review into the NDIS Commission’s regulation of the provider of NDIS supports and services to Ms Ann-Marie Smith, an NDIS participant who died on 6 April 2020 in appalling circumstances.
Two people from Western Sydney have been jailed for a combined 9 years and 6 months as the result of a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Fraud Taskforce investigation into $1.5m of fraudulent claims against the NDIS plans of Australians living with a disability.
Materials were seized from the sites in Western Sydney to assist the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Fraud Taskforce in its “Operation Pavo” investigation. In a joint release by the AFP, NDIA, and Services Australia on August 27, the authorities said the case’s current fraud value is estimated to be over $120,000.
Three police officers who assaulted a disability pensioner on his front lawn after they attended his home for a welfare check have been spared jail. Senior constables Brad McLeod, John Edney and Florian Hilgart were found guilty last Friday of a combined six charges over their use of force against the pensioner, John, outside his Preston home on September 19, 2017.
Celebrating his 10th “truly free” day of freedom since he was 16, Indigenous man Daryl Carr, 35, who has a mild intellectual disability, had a single message. “I don’t want to see the mob go through what I went through,” said Mr Carr, a Wiradjuri man who has spent most of his life behind bars. He was released from prison in late May after a NSW Supreme Court judge found that Mr Carr had been cruelly detained on a five-year extended supervision order for 11 years, sometimes for “minor breaches”.
David had been receiving weekly visits from a registered nurse who administered injections to treat his schizophrenia, and also had an NDIS-funded cleaner and gardener, but these visits stopped when his funding was cut off.
Federal court decisions are really important because they help us to understand what the NDIS principle of “reasonable and necessary” means in the real world. From what we have seen from court decisions so far (including this one) reasonable and necessary is very specific to the person’s disability and their unique situation.
More details have emerged from a number of investigations into the death of Adelaide woman, Ann Marie Smith, who police say died as a result of shocking neglect last month. The acting head of South Australia’s Human Services Department today told a parliamentary committee there had been several “flags” against her carer, Rosa Maoine and the company that employed her – Integrity Care over the years.
The Federal Court recently decided it was reasonable and necessary for an NDIS participant to receive funding for sex work. Sara digs into the must-read details of this fascinating ruling.
Disability advocates say the death of an Adelaide woman with cerebral palsy is proof the system is failing the most vulnerable. Ann Marie Smith was meant to receive around the clock in-home care but was instead left in the same chair for a year – with police describing her death as ‘disgusting and degrading’. How her condition went unnoticed for so long is now part of a criminal investigation.
The Federal Government says it “wants answers” on the death of disability care recipient Ann Marie Smith in what police described as “degrading circumstances”, as pressure mounts on federal and state authorities to explain how her case was overlooked.
The essence of human rights is the right of everyone to live a dignified life. A life with shelter, food, access to health care, safety, inclusion in the community and respect. As a community we should value human rights because we value people. People from all backgrounds, living circumstances and abilities. People like Ann-Marie. A police investigation is now underway, and Ann-Marie’s death has been declared a major crime.
She died on April 6 from severe septic shock, multi-organ failure, severe pressure sores, malnutrition and issues connected with her cerebral palsy after being stuck in a cane chair for 24-hours-a-day for more than a year.
The case of an Adelaide woman who died after being left by carers in a cane chair 24-hours-a-day for a year shows the community still does not value people with disabilities as much as it should, advocates say. Her death, which Detective Superintendent Des Bray described as happening in “disgusting and degrading circumstances”, is now the subject of a manslaughter investigation.
The mother of an intellectually disabled woman who was repeatedly abused in respite care says her daughter was barred from accessing justice because of her disability.