Nearly a quarter of staff at the regulator of the $46 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are burnt out and one third are reporting a lack of career paths for colleagues with disability.
It comes months after a damning workplace review exposed high rates of bullying and harassment.
The findings come after a review handed down by the former sex discrimination commissioner found evidence of a dysfunctional workplace culture at the agency which culminated in a shake-up of senior leadership last year.
But results from this year's APS census, finalised roughly at the same time as the review, indicate that issues may be broader, with around a third of employees reporting a lack of career advancement for staff with disabilities.
In September, the regulator released its first official disability strategy after the Broderick review found that staff with disabilities were more likely to be bullied and have their careers stalled.
The APS census found that 16 per cent of staff were bullied or harassed in the past year, and 10 per cent were subject to discrimination on the basis of their background.
While most respondents said they felt supported by their immediate supervisor, 23 per cent disagreed that "the psychosocial safety at the commission has improved" in the past year.
The most common forms of bullying were interference with work tasks, deliberate exclusion from work activities and verbal abuse.
Nearly 50 per cent of staff chose not to report a bullying incident.
Deputy Commissioner of People and Culture at the NDIS Commission, Tina Daisley, acknowledged there was "more work to do" and said the census results would be addressed through the agency's new plan to improve workplace culture.
"The NDIS Commission has made significant, positive changes to improve culture, leadership and staff wellbeing," she said.
According to this year's census, 40 per cent of NDIS watchdog employees believed that change isn't managed well within the agency, and 24 per cent reported feeling burnt out.
Only 55 per cent of staff recommended the Commission as a good place to work, down five points from last year's census.
Less than one-third of staff indicated they planned to leave in the next year.
The results show that sweeping changes "are far from fully reformed or resourced", according to Community and Public Sector Union Deputy National President Beth Vincent-Pietsch, who added that "for years" the regulator has been a "toxic place to work."
"These reforms are significant and very overdue, and they need to deliver the change that is desperately needed," she said.
Coalition spokesperson for the NDIS, Anne Ruston, said any reports of bullying and discrimination are "deeply concerning", especially when they are related to the agency tasked with supporting people living with a disability.
"The NDIS Commission must ensure that its own internal culture reflects the values and the communities that it has been created to serve," she said.
A spokesperson for NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister pointed to a statement of expectations issued in October, which called on agency executives to "provide a safe and supportive work environment" as it oversees sweeping reforms to disability support.
The NDIS Commission received a $142.6 million uplift in 2023 to help overworked staff deal with the rising number of complaints made by NDIS participants about abuse and exploitation, which have more than quadrupled since 2019.
First published in the Canberra Times on October 27th, 2025 as "Staff at NDIS regulator report high levels of burnout after damning bullying review", by Eleanor Campbell
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