MEDIA RELEASE, 21st DECEMBER 2022
Disability advocates are calling out the NDIA's Participant Service Charter & Participant Guarantee, which they say isn't worth the paper on which it's written.
Psychotherapist & Advocate, Ms Tracey Dempsey, said 'There are thousands of participants, their families & providers who have lodged multiple complaints to the NDIA (often on the same matters of concern) only to be ignored & prosecuted in forums & jurisdictions that are entirely unrelated or irrelevant to getting any remedy or redress. The more we complain the further we get from resolution, as NDIA bureaucrats double down on stupidity.'
The really absurd decisions being made by NDIA include:
· Forcing participants to use services they don't want (e.g. OT, Physiotherapy, Specialist Support Coordination, etc…).
· Railroading families into situations that will result in them being institutionalised or placed under state guardianship or Child Protection systems.
· Forcing families to spend double or triple on services of limited benefit when the same service could be a fraction of the cost (e.g. spending $275/hr for an OT to take a child to a playground instead of $57/hr for a Support Worker.)
Common complaints being made include:
· Serious breaches of privacy & confidentiality,
· The publication of false, misleading or defamatory reports, complaints &/or case notes, usually in secret,
· Malicious prosecutions of participants, their carers &/or service providers,
· NDIA Planners & staff completely ignoring the wishes & rights of participants to "choice & control".
Social Worker & Specialist Support Coordinator, Ms Bawden said, 'In one family's case we lodged more than seven official complaints over two years in relation to the same evens & had them all ignored' but the most significant formal complaints were made on at least the following occasions:
26th November 2021 - Complaint lodged regarding Gross Planner Misconduct 5th January 2022 - Complaint lodged regarding breach of Privacy on behalf of mother & daughter participants. 17th January 2022 - Complaint relodged regarding Breach of Privacy on behalf of daughter. 9th February 2022 – Complaint to Senator Kitching's office about the Complaints Team doing nothing to resolve or escalate to resolution.
10th February 2022 - Complaint lodged regarding Complaints Officer contradicting claims by a previous Complaints Officer in her attempts to escalate the complaints. 19th February 2022 - Complaint lodged with Planner for urgent resolution.
22nd June 2022 – Complaint lodged with Tony Zappia MP & Minister Bill Shorten's Ministerial offices, highlighting repeated breaches of policy and illegal practices by NDIA staff.
Meanwhile, NOT EVEN ONE communication has been resolved or properly actioned, whilst one complaint which resulted in a flimsy apology was later reneged upon anyway.
'NDIA staff will lie with impunity & it's high time the Minister's office started hauling these staff into his office to answer to the Minister in person or be sent to empty out their desks by lunch time', Ms Dempsey said.
Tracey Dempsey (0419 854 869) & Matilda Bawden are available for
