Instead,Mr Chate said,the home's manager – despite having agreed to bring in a new service provider – gave the client's mother five days to decide whether to stay or"find somewhere else to live",meaning abandoning their purpose-built room fitted out with NDIA funding.
He said the client remained in the home with their abuser and"as far as I'm aware,it hasn't been reported[to police]."
"A lot of abuse and neglect goes unreported,"Mr Chate told the hearing,saying complaints tended to be"resolved in favour of the service provider".
Other incidents included the misuse of physical restraints,his submission said,such as being put in cages.
"The existing powers of the commission are not enough for our clients to get a reasonable outcome,"Mr Chate said.
He said the amounts being spent on NDIS contracts meant recipients often did not have the protection of consumer or tenancy laws,putting them at risk of eviction if they complained.
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People with Disability Australia policy and advocacy director Romola Hollywood told the committee on Tuesday the commission"must be resourced sufficiently to carry out its own investigations",including spot checks on providers"where people are at high risk of abuse due to being isolated".
Another red flag for investigation should be"significant under-spends"in NDIS plans,she said.
Mr Head said there were"a wide array of triggers for an investigation and very extensive powers"at the commission,"both information-gathering powers and enforcement actions".
"I'm not reluctant at all to use the infringement notice powers of the act,where appropriate,"he said.
Greens disability spokesman Jordon Steele-John,who is on the Senate committee,said it was"not acceptable"that the commission had taken action is so few cases and that the regulator appeared to be"passive"with"a very low profile in the community".
'A staff member was seen to grab them by the hair[and] bang their head against a chair.'
Tim Chate,a solicitor with the Intellectual Disability Rights Service
"If you have the powers,why aren't you using them?"he said."What we are seeing is the tip of the iceberg of people who are able to make a complaint,"Senator Steele-John said."It is endemic in our society."
He said the commission's processes did not take into account the"power imbalance"between service providers and recipients in navigating a"bureaucratic and complex"system and called for a more proactive approach.
"We need a national,comprehensive safeguard mechanism that covers all disabled people,not just NDIS participants who make up just 10 per cent of the 4 millions Australians with a disability."
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Labor's NDIS spokesman Bill Shorten said the Coalition government had"done nothing to put back to work a disability watchdog that is acting more like a sleepy purse poodle".
NDIS Minister Stuart Robert referred questions to the commission.
A spokesman for the commission said it"takes all complaints seriously"and some complaints were criminal matters that"should be investigated by the appropriate authorities".
"All alleged criminal conduct matters that the NDIS Commission are made aware of are referred to the police,"the spokesman said."The NDIS Commission cannot undertake criminal investigations."
The federal budget included an additional $92.9 million for the commission over the next four years,to enable it to hire about 100 extra staff.
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