Caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our society can be a challenging job, but for one charity organisation it has been made much harder due to a pay dispute with the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
Nardy House employs 22 staff to care for a small number of high-needs residents living with severe disabilities at Quaama on New South Wales' far south coast.
The charity organisation relies on funding from the NDIA's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to provide 24-hour care to its residents.
But Nardy House chief executive officer Denise Redmond said the NDIA was holding back funds for three of its residents.
She said without adequate NDIS funding, the facility could be forced to close, which is why the families of residents had taken the government agency to court.
"If Nardy House closes there is nowhere else for these people to go," Ms Redmond said.
"If they don't, their child will end up in a nursing home."
Families take legal action
In October 2019, the NDIA notified three residents at Nardy House that their funding for registered nurse care would be cut.
The families of those residents took the NDIA to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to ensure the cost of care by registered nurses was met by the agency.
A parent of one of the residents, who could not be named due to legal reasons, said the changes were made without reason.
"At first I thought it was just pure penny pinching," the parent said.
"I know the NDIS costs a lot of money."
The AAT overturned the decision in December last year and ordered the NDIA to pay Nardy House for the care provided, backdated to October 2019, at a cost of more than $1.5 million.
But Ms Redmond said the money had not been paid.
"NDIS holding funds back from participants with the highest level of need is amoral.
"There's something really wrong here."
NDIA appeals decision
The NDIA has appealed the decision by the AAT and the matter is before the Federal Court.
In a statement, the NDIA said it made funding decisions in accordance with the NDIS Act based on what was considered "reasonable and necessary".
The agency did not respond to specific ABC questions about why they decided to cut the funding to the three residents at Nardy House and about who made that decision.
In response to the AAT ruling, it said it was "currently funding registered nurses at Nardy House" but did not confirm whether it had paid the money Nardy House said it was owed.
It also said that while it had implemented the measures in the AAT's ruling, no further action would be taken until a Federal Court ruling was made.
"The agency is appealing this decision with the Federal Court and will await the Federal Court's ruling before any further resolution," the spokesperson said.
