NDIS commissioner resigns days before report due
Feb 27, 2024 17:58:10 GMT 7
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Post by bear on Feb 27, 2024 17:58:10 GMT 7
NDIS commissioner resigns days before report due into scandal exposed by Four Corners
In short: Tracey Mackey's term as NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner will end in May and she will "embark on new career opportunities".
Ms Mackey came under intense scrutiny after ABC Investigations and Four Corners exposed how children with autism had been subjected to unlawful restraints by an NDIS operator.
What's next? A report commissioned by the NDIS shortly after the Four Corners program aired is due to be handed down this week.
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner Tracey Mackey will step down from her position just days before an independent report is due into a scandal exposed by Four Corners in which children with autism were unlawfully restrained at an NDIS funded program.
In a Four Corners investigation which went to air last September, the program broadcast CCTV footage showing a non-verbal teenager with an intellectual disability being held face down by six workers as part of the "Severe Behaviour Program", run by Melbourne's Irabina Autism Services.
An internal consultant report obtained by Four Corners said the boy was subject to the treatment 10 or more times over a 17-month period.
Families and workers said other children, aged between 10 and 14, were also subject to unlawful and unauthorised restraints when they had an "uncontrolled behaviour".
The pin-down method used by staff at Irabina is unlawful throughout Australia and is in breach of Victoria's human rights legislation. Former Victorian senior practitioner Frank Lambrick said the methods used were "abuse".
GRAPHIC CONTENT: Vision aired by Four Corners shows a teenage boy being restrained by staff at Irabina Autism Services.
WATCH
Duration: 2 minutes 15 seconds2m 15s
Ms Mackey told Four Corners she found the footage "deeply concerning and that's why staff took action immediately to make sure that participants were safe and the practice ceased" in 2021.
Asked in the interview why the regulator hadn't fined Irabina or banned its executives, Ms Mackey said the commission had acted by "shutting down that particular service and ensuring that that program was not operating anymore".
Ms Mackey also deflected questions about whether other aspects of the program – such as secluding children in small windowless rooms for hours on end – had also ceased.
The day after the program aired, a speech therapist told the ABC that the program was still operating the following year in 2022, and that children continued to be secluded in small rooms and observed through one-way mirrors.
When NDIS Minister Bill Shorten was asked for his reaction the following day on ABC Radio National, he said he was "perplexed" by the information because "I am told that there was action taken at the time to shut the program down".
Shortly after, the NDIS Commission asked former family judge Amanda Boland to conduct an investigation into whether the regulator had responded appropriately following the reports about Irabina's treatment of children with disabilities.
That report is due to be handed to the NDIS Commission in two days' time.
Sacked deputy says he was a scapegoat
But before the inquiry was commissioned, there was more controversy when it emerged a deputy commissioner, Jeffrey Chan, was stood aside and later suspended on the same day that Mr Shorten expressed his concerns about the regulator's action.
He took legal action in the Federal Court, alleging he'd been made a scapegoat after he made it clear to Ms Mackey that the commission had not shut down the program as she had told Four Corners.
According to Dr Chan's affidavit, Ms Mackey said "f***" and "that means that I lied on national television".
Ms Mackey said she had taken advice from other staff that the program had ended but Dr Chan showed her documents and told her "that is not what the evidence before me shows". Dr Chan's affidavit said Ms Mackey told him "I may have to submit my resignation".
However, two hours after this conversation was alleged to have occurred, it was Dr Chan who was asked to stand down, with the NDIS commissioner allegedly telling him that "the minister is not happy" and "it is difficult to work with the minister [Bill Shorten]".
Dr Chan's legal action was abandoned in December after the NDIS Commission reached a settlement with him and released a statement saying "it acknowledges the impact of this process and any distress that may have been caused".
YOUTUBEWatch Four Corners' full investigation into the NDIS.
Mr Shorten said Ms Mackey's resignation would take effect in May and the government was committed to helping to "protect Australians with disability from unscrupulous operators".
"I want to thank Ms Mackey for her time at the commission, and wish her well for her next endeavours," he said in a statement.
The NDIS Commission also thanked the outgoing commissioner.
"In light of the significant impending changes, she has decided the timing is right to embark on new career opportunities," a spokesperson said.
Families still in the dark
Petra Chard, whose son Jadon attended the Severe Behaviour Program at Irabina for more than a year and paid more than $1 million in NDIS funding, said the abuse that occurred at Irabina has not been acknowledged or investigated.
The current inquiry is only into the regulatory processes and will not examine how many children were unlawfully restrained, how many times and what the effect on them has been.
Ms Chard said families deserve an explanation.
"When will our children receive justice," she said.
"I sincerely hope that prior to her departure from the commission, Tracey Mackey will extend the courtesy of informing the guardians about the reported abuse of their children."
A month after the Four Corners program, the NDIS Commission banned the former CEO of Irabina, Deb Goldfinch, and her daughter from working in the NDIS and issued fines of $1 million to 19 NDIS providers.
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-27/ndis-commissioner-tracey-mackey-resigns/103516604
In short: Tracey Mackey's term as NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner will end in May and she will "embark on new career opportunities".
Ms Mackey came under intense scrutiny after ABC Investigations and Four Corners exposed how children with autism had been subjected to unlawful restraints by an NDIS operator.
What's next? A report commissioned by the NDIS shortly after the Four Corners program aired is due to be handed down this week.
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner Tracey Mackey will step down from her position just days before an independent report is due into a scandal exposed by Four Corners in which children with autism were unlawfully restrained at an NDIS funded program.
In a Four Corners investigation which went to air last September, the program broadcast CCTV footage showing a non-verbal teenager with an intellectual disability being held face down by six workers as part of the "Severe Behaviour Program", run by Melbourne's Irabina Autism Services.
An internal consultant report obtained by Four Corners said the boy was subject to the treatment 10 or more times over a 17-month period.
Families and workers said other children, aged between 10 and 14, were also subject to unlawful and unauthorised restraints when they had an "uncontrolled behaviour".
The pin-down method used by staff at Irabina is unlawful throughout Australia and is in breach of Victoria's human rights legislation. Former Victorian senior practitioner Frank Lambrick said the methods used were "abuse".
GRAPHIC CONTENT: Vision aired by Four Corners shows a teenage boy being restrained by staff at Irabina Autism Services.
WATCH
Duration: 2 minutes 15 seconds2m 15s
Ms Mackey told Four Corners she found the footage "deeply concerning and that's why staff took action immediately to make sure that participants were safe and the practice ceased" in 2021.
Asked in the interview why the regulator hadn't fined Irabina or banned its executives, Ms Mackey said the commission had acted by "shutting down that particular service and ensuring that that program was not operating anymore".
Ms Mackey also deflected questions about whether other aspects of the program – such as secluding children in small windowless rooms for hours on end – had also ceased.
The day after the program aired, a speech therapist told the ABC that the program was still operating the following year in 2022, and that children continued to be secluded in small rooms and observed through one-way mirrors.
When NDIS Minister Bill Shorten was asked for his reaction the following day on ABC Radio National, he said he was "perplexed" by the information because "I am told that there was action taken at the time to shut the program down".
Shortly after, the NDIS Commission asked former family judge Amanda Boland to conduct an investigation into whether the regulator had responded appropriately following the reports about Irabina's treatment of children with disabilities.
That report is due to be handed to the NDIS Commission in two days' time.
Sacked deputy says he was a scapegoat
But before the inquiry was commissioned, there was more controversy when it emerged a deputy commissioner, Jeffrey Chan, was stood aside and later suspended on the same day that Mr Shorten expressed his concerns about the regulator's action.
He took legal action in the Federal Court, alleging he'd been made a scapegoat after he made it clear to Ms Mackey that the commission had not shut down the program as she had told Four Corners.
According to Dr Chan's affidavit, Ms Mackey said "f***" and "that means that I lied on national television".
Ms Mackey said she had taken advice from other staff that the program had ended but Dr Chan showed her documents and told her "that is not what the evidence before me shows". Dr Chan's affidavit said Ms Mackey told him "I may have to submit my resignation".
However, two hours after this conversation was alleged to have occurred, it was Dr Chan who was asked to stand down, with the NDIS commissioner allegedly telling him that "the minister is not happy" and "it is difficult to work with the minister [Bill Shorten]".
Dr Chan's legal action was abandoned in December after the NDIS Commission reached a settlement with him and released a statement saying "it acknowledges the impact of this process and any distress that may have been caused".
YOUTUBEWatch Four Corners' full investigation into the NDIS.
Mr Shorten said Ms Mackey's resignation would take effect in May and the government was committed to helping to "protect Australians with disability from unscrupulous operators".
"I want to thank Ms Mackey for her time at the commission, and wish her well for her next endeavours," he said in a statement.
The NDIS Commission also thanked the outgoing commissioner.
"In light of the significant impending changes, she has decided the timing is right to embark on new career opportunities," a spokesperson said.
Families still in the dark
Petra Chard, whose son Jadon attended the Severe Behaviour Program at Irabina for more than a year and paid more than $1 million in NDIS funding, said the abuse that occurred at Irabina has not been acknowledged or investigated.
The current inquiry is only into the regulatory processes and will not examine how many children were unlawfully restrained, how many times and what the effect on them has been.
Ms Chard said families deserve an explanation.
"When will our children receive justice," she said.
"I sincerely hope that prior to her departure from the commission, Tracey Mackey will extend the courtesy of informing the guardians about the reported abuse of their children."
A month after the Four Corners program, the NDIS Commission banned the former CEO of Irabina, Deb Goldfinch, and her daughter from working in the NDIS and issued fines of $1 million to 19 NDIS providers.
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-27/ndis-commissioner-tracey-mackey-resigns/103516604