Dob them in: call for care abuse hotline

South Australia is considering launching a national hotline to report abuse or neglect of people in disability care.

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall. Picture: AAP

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall is considering calls from disability advocates for a week-long campaign urging anyone with claims of abuse or neglect of people in disability care to share that evidence via a national hotline.

The idea came from disabled care whistleblower Stewart Johnston, whose late mother suffered appalling abuse at Adelaide’s ­notorious Oakden facility, and whom the Premier contacted on Thursday night after bombshell allegations involving NDIS clients were aired in federal parliament.

Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie told parliament on Thursday the NDIS Commission in SA was bungling investigations and failing even to look into terrible allegations of NDIS client abuse, including two sexual assaults and the death of a client through the maladministration of sedatives. She painted a picture of an organisation in total disarray, with just six investigators each having around 600 open cases on their books and no effective triage system for clerical staff to prioritise and refer initial reported complaints to the senior investigators.

The claims follow the death of NDIS client Ann Marie Smith in April, who was being looked after by just one carer who never had any independent oversight of her work, and who is accused of allowing Smith to become so ill that by the time she was eventually taken to hospital it was too late.

The Weekend Australian has also spoken to whistleblowers who are highly critical of the organisation that they say has failed to deliver on its promised vigilance, and at worst, seems blind or ambivalent to the prospect of wrongdoing in the sector.

Federal NDIS Minister Stuart Robert said he was taking the latest claims very seriously and urged Ms Sharkie to come forward and provide any information she had received from whistleblowers to police and the NDIS.

But Mr Johnston said the latest allegations from Ms Sharkie showed the system was broken and that a more front-foot ­approach was needed to get the fullest picture of the scale of abuse and neglect in disabled care.

“We need some kind of Crimestoppers-style phone-in so we can get to the bottom of all this once and for all,” Mr Johnston told The Weekend Australian.

“We know the NDIS Commission is in its infancy but it is clearly struggling to keep up with caseload and this would be a way to get a complete picture of what we are looking at.”

Mr Marshall said he would consider the idea and that he was already in talks with his federal counterparts about the operations of the NDIS Commission in SA, specifically in relation to the Ann Marie Smith case.

“What Stewart Johnson has suggested is that we need an overarching phone-in maybe for seven days right across the nation where people who have got concerns can have an 1800 number,” Mr Marshall said. “We are looking at that issue at the moment.”

He echoed the calls for Ms Sharkie and any whistleblowers to share any evidence they had of abuse claims with SA Police.

“With … issues like this that are of a criminal nature there is an obligation for people who have information to give that to the SA Police,” he said.