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Shorten tells states NDIS will start screening for criminals, predators
By Natassia Chrysanthos and Andrew Probyn
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten will write to state governments with a warning that the disability scheme cannot be a dumping ground for released criminals, as court documents reveal the NDIS is funding the supervision of sex offenders after they’re released from detention.
In an escalation of tensions between the federal and state governments over the $42 billion insurance scheme, Shorten said he would demand that states start telling the National Disability Insurance Agency when serious criminals are released from their jails.
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said he was writing to the states.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Shorten said his agency should have the power to look at a person’s criminal history before they join the scheme. He will also ask a panel of former police officers to review the safety of NDIS workers tasked with providing support services to serious criminal offenders.
“The NDIS cannot be responsible for criminals who are on parole. The NDIS cannot be the dumping ground for state justice systems to keep Australians safe from violent criminals,” he said.
“I don’t recall being made the chief justice, the chief commissioner or the chief parole officer of the states and territories.”
This masthead revealed earlier this week that serial sexual abusers, rapists and paedophiles diagnosed with “mild to medium” intellectual disabilities have been receiving substantial support from the NDIS to live under supervision in the community after their release from jail.
Some of the offenders were deemed too vulnerable or dangerous to be housed in state-based specialised sex offender facilities after completing prison sentences, but instead received some of the NDIS’ most expensive packages, in one case worth $1.4 million.
Adding to the issue is the looming release of repeat sex offender Wayne Wilmot from NSW correctional facilities, first reported in The Australian. Shorten said he did not believe it was appropriate that Wilmot receive NDIS-funded support when he leaves prison.
“I am writing to the states to demand they start reporting and stop keeping the NDIA in the dark when a serious criminal is released from their jails,” Shorten said on Tuesday.
“Being a criminal is a not a disability. Being a sex predator is not a disability. These are clearly policing and law and order areas that are the province of the states.”
A spokesperson for the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety previously told this masthead that the NDIA was “responsible for determining eligibility for the NDIS, including the level of funding and provision of disability supported accommodation. We have no involvement in this”.
The state’s Minister for Disability, Lizzie Blandthorn, said the government had “expressed concerns that the Commonwealth doesn’t seem to be genuinely interested in discussing their proposed changes to the scheme with the states, as evidenced by the lack of meaningful consultation on legislation that impacts eligibility for the NDIS”.
Shorten said he wanted advice from a panel of former police officers before admitting people with serious criminal history “anywhere near our NDIS”.
“We are not currently able to look at a person’s criminal history. That’s got to change. I want to know who’s asking to be on the scheme, [and] if the workforce, who we send to care for them are safe,” he said.
“Now the vast bulk of people on the scheme… are completely legitimate and eligible. But the states can’t just use the NDIS to provide round-the-clock protection for the community from a few very bad people.”
The NDIS’ growing role in supervising and supporting sex offenders diagnosed with intellectual disabilities and serious mental illnesses is the latest example of burgeoning expectations on the scheme that are threatening its sustainability.
The NDIS was designed 10 years ago to support a small group of Australians with the most significant disabilities but has since become the main provider of disability services in the country as state and community programs vacated the field.
This over-reliance on the NDIS for support – particularly by children with autism and developmental delays, who form the fastest-growing cohort – is a major reason its costs blow out by billions each year, making it one of the federal government’s biggest budget pressures.
As federal and state governments tussle over the terms of a new agreement that will see states resume greater responsibility for disability services in their health and education systems, Shorten will also push them to step up their efforts in the justice system, where people with a disability are over-represented.
He said this had been a “festering issue in the scheme for 10 years” that had not been addressed until his government started taking action, including by establishing a fraud taskforce to stop people exploiting the scheme.
A set of separate reforms is underway to stop released criminals from self-managing their NDIS plans, while legislation before the parliament will give the NDIA more powers and narrow the scope of support that the Commonwealth is obliged to provide.
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