The national disability insurance agency (NDIA) has accepted it missed red flags in a case where two brothers with disabilities were found severely malnourished, naked and locked in a room, the disability royal commission heard on Tuesday.
The inquiry, which is holding its final public hearings in Brisbane this week, heard on Monday about the shocking case of two young men, aged 17 and 19, who authorities found living in squalid conditions in May 2020.
Their father was found deceased in the home after a concerned neighbour contacted authorities, while the two brothers were later diagnosed with severe malnourishment.
The inquiry has already heard that between June 2000 and May 2020, there were 30 occasions when concerns about neglect were raised with Queensland authorities, while 19 child protection notifications were received by the state’s Department of Child Safety.
Of the two brothers, given the pseudonyms Kaleb and Jonathon by the inquiry, only the older brother, Kaleb, was an NDIS participant. The inquiry heard their father had essentially blocked Jonathon from the scheme, in part due to concerns it would affect his carer pension.
The inquiry heard that in meetings with the agency, the father had been hostile towards NDIA staff, insisting Kaleb did not need the level of funding offered by the NDIS.
The senior counsel assisting the commission, Kate Eastman, told the commission that while Kaleb’s first 12-month plan was worth $102,000, only $361 was spent.
After the father subsequently told NDIA officials Kaleb did not need that much funding, a second plan was valued at only $8,000. A third plan was lifted to $41,000 during a period when the father was hospitalised.
By the time of the father’s death in May 2020, the inquiry heard only $1,200 had been utilised for Kaleb’s necessary and reasonable supports in about two years.
A neighbour who sometimes cared for the brothers told the inquiry on Monday that they lived in dire conditions, often denied food and water. She said she had encouraged the father to seek help.
Eastman said: “If such a very small amount of the overall funds available was used in that first year, should that have been a red flag to anyone in the NDIA?”
Desmond Lee, the NDIA’s acting general manager of national delivery, told the commission: “Yes. It should have been.”
Lee also accepted that the agency had “completely missed and overlooked” the needs of Jonathon, who was not granted NDIS supports until after the father’s death.
The inquiry heard that some NDIA officials had raised concerns about the father’s reluctance to receive support, but managers had suggested the agency could not “force” the scheme on to the family.
Eastman said this failed to recognise the “absolute conflict” between the interests of the father and his children, who were entitled to support under the scheme.
Lee acknowledged that conflict “in hindsight”.
The commissioner, John Ryan, said the case involved a “whole heap of sliding door moments where people might have recognised two young men who are in serious trouble and no one noticed”.
“I don’t know whether that’s the case or not, but are people advised to look for signals of abuse and if they feel there’s abuse going on? Are there procedures within the NDIA to report that somewhere?” Ryan asked.
Lee said under updated guidelines and training procedures NDIA officials would be more proactive in considering a referral to agencies with coercive powers such as the public guardian, child protection or the police.
“I’m fairly confident that that kind of situation would be far less likely given the training and support that we provide to our staff today,” Lee said.
The royal commission also heard on Tuesday that under state law the Queensland Family and Child Commission could not investigate individual cases unless it received a referral from the child death register or child death review board.
The principal commissioner at the Queensland Family and Child Commission (QFCC), Luke Twyford, told the inquiry said this meant the watchdog stepped “above being drawn into individual cases and look at the compilation of issues across Queensland”.
But under questioning from counsel assisting Gillian Mahony, Twyford accepted that not investigating individual cases might also mean missing systemic issues.
In the case of Kaleb and Jonathon, the QFCC prepared a report after receiving a referral from the Queensland attorney general. It came after high-profile media reporting of the case.
Twyford said to his knowledge the report, which was provided to the minister but could only be released by the government, had not been made public.
The royal commission heard that instead, a summary report that made no specific reference to the circumstances of Kaleb and Jonathon’s case was provided to the government for public release.
The inquiry continues.
