An urgent state government review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), prompted by the death of South Australian woman Ann Marie Smith, has found huge gaps in the system.
The final report is expected to include details on the death of David Harris, Crikey has been told, who died last year in NSW after being cut off from multiple disability support services.
An inquest, taskforce and manslaughter investigation has been launched into Smith’s death, who had cerebral palsy and died this year after allegedly being left in the same chair in her home for a year.
But in Harris’ home state, an inquest into his death has still not been launched.
Stressed, anxious, and left with little information
Harris’ sister Leanne Longfellow told Crikey that more than a year after his death she still has few answers. Harris’ body was so decomposed, a coroner couldn’t determine a cause of death. There was no food in his fridge. His support workers had stopped visiting, and his NDIS funding had been cut off.
An internal review by the coroner is scheduled for July 6, but it is still not known if a decision to launch an inquiry will be made then.
“I feel like the burden is on me to be the detective,” Longfellow said.
“I wish I could just hand it over and know it was being dealt with … I have just been so anxious that people are not looking at it closely and not giving it the attention it needs.”
What did the report say?
The South Australian government’s safeguarding taskforce interim report identified 12 safeguarding gaps and made five recommendations. Eight gaps related to the federally-run NDIS, while four were state-specific.
Gaps included the need to better identify vulnerable people, ensure they had connections to the community, and have regular health checks. It also found in-home workers needed supervision and better screening, and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission complaints process needed improvement.
Director of media and communications for People with Disability Australia El Gibbs told Crikey the findings weren’t a surprise.
“These recommendations echo many other recommendations from many other inquiries, into preventing violence, improving the NDIS and how people with disability access healthcare,” she said.
Gibbs added NSW was falling behind in disability care.
“The state government has also moved away from all disability service provision, and independent disability advocacy services are under a cloud with funding only guaranteed to the end of 2020,” she said.
“All state and territory governments have a responsibility to provide services to people with disability, both those who have NDIS plans, and the 90% who don’t.”
The taskforce’s final report is due on July 31. Details of Harris’ death is expected to be included in the appendix of the report.
Politicians call for more
NSW shadow minister for disability and inclusion Penny Sharpe told Crikey gaps identified in the report needed to be addressed.
“These need to be looked at from a state perspective,” she said. “There’s a role of the state government [to address these gaps]. No one should be falling through the cracks.”
Both Sharpe and federal shadow minister for the NDIS Bill Shorten called for an inquest into Harris’ death.
“South Australia’s interim report directly notes there are federal problems which need to be investigated and addressed,” Shorten told Crikey.
“These deaths by neglect are a national crisis caused by seven years of neglect of the NDIS and the active removal of $4.6b from the scheme and failures of oversight by the NDIS watchdog.”
NSW Minister for Disability Services Gareth Ward declined to comment.
Disability Discrimination Commissioner Ben Gauntlett told Crikey no one should have to wait for help.
“We need to have policies that ensure individuals with complex support needs are looked after by creating policies that do not rely upon people requesting help,” he said.
“As a society, it is not enough for us to say, ‘we’ll learn from this’. We must do better.”
How do we mend Australia’s welfare network? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say section.
These two stories are absolutely chilling! That these siblings can have been allowed to rot and die, effectively abandoned by those who should have been caring for them paints a catastrophic story about how elusive Government-based/attached “care” is able to be. Who can/will speak up for them posthumously, with a view to ensuring that this sort of despicable neglect of vulnerable people is NEVER allowed to recur?
What an awful way to die.
SHAMELESS AND SHAMEFUL . . . No accountability, and still the neglect, abuse goes on. Such events are not alone institutional failures. Our failure is of humane concern one for another. Decades of seeing, hearing and knowing strips belief that someone, somewhere . . . will intervene. Not after, but before the inevitability is fact.
Seriously – what ever happened to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” No, seriously. Not cool enough?..too silly?…oh there there little boy don’t mention that sh-t, it has no place in this sophisticated complex world. Our politicians and faceless bureaucrats, particularly our health bureaucrats should refuse to eat, drink or even breath, until every living soul in this country has food in their mouth, a roof over their head and clothes on their backs and live in a caring and loving environment. Politics is a fkn lie, it’a ruse and both political parties in this country are two cheeks of the same ar-e.
I hate to break it to you, Drew. But there’s more than two political parties here in Oz. I guess you meant the Lib/Lab mob- one single party with 2 faces that control this 51st sate of America called Australia.
But as the LRB song goes ” help is on the way” …stick “Cumbre Vieja” in ya search bar and investigate the ytube volcanologist reports and the possible tsnami effect on the east coast of America when this thing finally collapses into the ocean. That part is essential. The section that could collapse is 15 kls long and average height of 1 kl.
Then look up Rev 8:8. “The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea.”
No charge.
“No charge”? This is not the masterchef article, is it?
Anyway, I did n’t realize America is modern day Babylon. But your explanation of the “ephah” ( weights and measures ) in Zechariah, being transfered from the old city of Babylon across the Atlantic to it’s new home in latter days is interesting. If you believe it.
But the La Palma island Cumbre Veija link is certainly solid ground that must be taken seriously if even only half of those volcanologists and scientists are right. Two hundred mt tsnamis to hit the east coast of America?…I dunno about that one, but if there be some truth then all those movies depicting such would have to be predictive programming. Would it not?
If Babylon was just simply a corrupted ecclesiastical system then it’s easy to point the bone at the Roman Church, but in Rev 17/18 it is mentioned 3 times distinctly and clearly that Babylon is a “city”…that great City.
Thanks Tabs.
sent from i phone – Tabeaux
Yeah, I think they’re passing the bong over at that masterchoof piece. Heaven help us.
Rome can’t be “that city” either. Both Rome and the Vatican don’t have a deep water port and are basically land locked and they are not responsible for the world’s economic and financial systems like for example New York.
Ok, Rome has a bit of crimson and purple in a dress sense as per the whore of Babylon, but the US is also clothed in “fine linen ( white ) and blue and red” their flag. And that statue of liberty is nothing more than “Libertas” another remake of that false god Ishtah – herself worshipped by the ancient Babylonians.
The US also has the reserve currency of the world and every major international bank has it’s head quarters in New York. Just in case the plot does n’t thicken, theres even a major area of New York called Babylon. I am not kidding – check it out – hiding in plain sight?
I see you even caught the “ephah” in Zechariah. Well done. Many don’t.
I could go on Drew, but at the moment I am camping out with a few people just over the Dandenongs and have to be back in Melbourne for an arvo rendevous so I will leave it there for now.
Cheers, Drew
Tabs
when a person with a disability or the elderly apply for any government assistance there is an 18 month wait to qualify, the thinking behind this is the expectation that many will, and do, die before the time limit is up, its all about saving a few dollars and nothing about the welfare of ordinary people, this is what you get when you elect conservative governments.
The only surprise is the surprise. This is not a bug/failure of the system. It is intrinsic, systemic – it is what this “government” has demanded of the employees/minions in the chain, scrutiny, delay, disputation, delay and dismissal…did I mention delay?
I’d like to see a comment by the (too dignified to wallow) exPM, Ms Gillard on the crippling of her signature policy,the NDIS.