Service providers

On this page:

Public hearings about service providers
Where we stand on service providers
Links to more information

If you’re not sure about some of the language being used, see if it’s in our Jargon Buster. Specific pages that might come in handy:

Public hearings about service providers

A number of Disability Royal Commission hearings so far have looked into case studies about preventing and responding to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation in disability services. In these hearings, lived experience witnesses tell their stories, and then the Royal Commission asks representatives of the service provider and, sometimes, the NDIA or other regulators, questions about what happened, who was responsible and how it could have been prevented.

Some of the hearings on this page also appear in other issues pages.

Public hearing 3 looked at group homes in Victoria. It ran from Monday 2 to Friday 6 December, 2019. You can find a transcript of the hearing on the DRC website, as well as video with Auslan interpretation and various documents mentioned in the hearing. You can also read the Royal Commission’s report about this hearing.

Check out our live Twitter commentary on hearing 3 here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Public hearing 13, from Monday, 24 May to Friday, 28 May 2021, looked at a group home run by service provider Sunnyfield Disability Services. A follow-up hearing on 8 September 2021 presented recommended findings from Counsel Assisting and responses to that submission from the service provider, the NSW ombudsman and witness Eliza. Video and transcripts are available on the website, as is the Commissioners’ Report.

Check out our live Twitter commentary on hearing 13 here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and the follow-up hearing in September.

Public hearing 14, from 7 June to 11 June 2021, focused on disability accommodation services operated by the South Australian Department of Human Services. They also heard some evidence about the death of Ann-Marie Smith. There was a virtual follow-up hearing on 30 September 2021. You can find the hearing 14 report on the DRC website.

Check out our live Twitter commentary on hearing 14 here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and the follow-up hearing in September.

Hearing 20, from Tuesday 7 December to Tuesday 14 December 2021, examined two case studies involving group homes run by Life Without Barriers. You can find transcripts and other documents on the Royal Commission’s website, including the final hearing 20 report. Here’s an ABC article about the hearing report.

Check out our live Twitter commentary on hearing 20 here: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Monday and the second Tuesday. An extra day of the hearing for final submissions was held on 28 April 2022, but we weren’t able to livetweet it.

The Royal Commission held public hearing 23 from 16 to 20 May 2022, looking at a case study relating to the NDIS registered service provider Australian Foundation for Disability (Afford). We were only able to live-tweet on Wednesday 18 May. The Commissioners’ report for hearing 23 has now been published.

Public hearing 32, from 13 to 17 February 2023, re-examined the policies and practices of disability service providers, drawing together key themes and issues from the hearings above and other submissions on the topic. The hearing also looked into the role of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and the NDIA. Several service providers who have been the subject of previous hearings gave evidence about steps they have and haven’t taken to improve their policies and procedures.

Check out our live Twitter commentary on hearing 32 here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

Other hearings featuring service providers include hearings 21 and 22 on employment services.

Where we stand on service providers

Australian disability services are now mostly funded through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which was created to meet Australia’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Find out more about the CRPD here. The CRPD says people with disability have a right to “full inclusion and participation in the community” and the government needs to make sure we have access to the services we need to participate and be included. The NDIS is meant to provide that access. While the scheme has been a success in many ways, it’s still not performing as intended – find out more in our NDIS implementation submission to the government.

The CRPD also talks about our right to live free from abuse, violence and exploitation. Unfortunately, the people who support us to live our lives and participate in the community often have the most opportunity to harm us. Each service provider is meant to have systems and plans for stopping that from happening, and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is meant to keep an eye on the service providers. Representatives of the Quality and Safeguards Commission have spoken at a number of public hearings.