NDIS lacks safeguards for workers dealing with sex offenders and violent criminals

Australia’s national disability scheme has failed to implement any measures to protect the safety of workers who support and monitor sexual predators and violent offenders who qualify for assistance to live in the community.

Freedom-of-information requests by this masthead reveal that NDIS service providers and support workers have been given no regulations or guidance on how to manage the risks of providing disability care for known offenders, some of whom require 24-hour supervision to prevent future crimes.

NDIS service providers have been given no guidance on how to manage the risks of providing disability care for offenders.Credit: Illustration: Marija Ercegovac

In response to the FOI requests, the National Disability Insurance Agency, which administers the scheme, and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, which regulates the work of support agencies, have claimed that monitoring and preventing harm by offenders receiving support is not their responsibility.

The disavowal comes despite NDIS Minister Bill Shorten writing to state governments in April requesting information on known sex offenders accessing the scheme, including their identities.

That followed revelations in this masthead that dozens of predators had been accessing the NDIS and putting workers potentially at risk.

At the time, Shorten and the NDIS also announced the urgent launch of a “justice panel” comprising a former police chief, a judge and a disability expert to help manage high-risk offenders inside the scheme and “consider ways to protect NDIS workers against unacceptable risks”.

This masthead has revealed that serial sexual abusers, rapists and paedophiles have been receiving substantial support from the NDIS, sometimes worth more than $1 million, to live under supervision in the community after their release from detention.

The NDIA declined to comment but its FOI division said such “operating procedures, guidelines or policies do not exist”.

“This is because support workers are employed externally by providers, therefore policies and guidance for support workers is not the responsibility of the NDIA,” it said.

In turn, the NDIS Commission said it was not the agency’s responsibility to “regulate participants, nor do we hold information about participants’ criminal history”.

“Our role is to ensure all NDIS providers comply with the NDIS Code of Conduct and deliver supports and services in a safe and competent manner.

“NDIS providers are required to identify and manage risks to worker safety, such as worker-related violence. This includes ensuring that workers can safely do their jobs while providing supports and services, and extends to the safety of visitors and any other people who may be impacted by a participant’s behaviour.”

In contrast, the NDIA and NDIS Commission have issued hundreds of pages of materials that outline policies for everything from tracking financial fraud in the system to specific guidelines on administering medical treatments to regulations governing the type of paint used in specialist disability accommodation.

Shorten said in June that the push for information and more oversight was “a very serious matter to ensure community and workers are sufficiently safe and protected”.

“[The justice panel] will be working with states and territories to ensure people exiting prisons and forensic facilities have the right supports in place and the NDIS workforce are appropriately supported and safe,” he said at the time.

A major NDIS provider that operates across several states, who cannot be identified speaking publicly about problems with the scheme, said the sector was plagued by a lack of regulation and an “information vacuum” when it came to dealing with certain high-risk clients.

“We employ professionals within our organisation who have experience and knowledge in dealing with people with such histories to do risk assessments and put in place the right measures.”

“But it’s all on us to mitigate the risk and protect the workers. And once a person is released [from prison], good luck getting the information you need – they don’t have to provide anything.”

The source said the proliferation of “unregistered” service providers posed a particularly serious risk. There are about 150,000 unregistered providers who offer services to people on the NDIS.

“The NDIS has failed in allowing non-registered support workers and non-registered providers to flourish in this space as they have no requirements for training of staff or even risk-assessing participants – none at all,” the source said.

“You’ve got participants that are out there in the community with significant violent forensic histories and these local Gumtree and Facebook workers are taking them on without any understanding of what’s involved or what to expect.”

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