Irvin

Irvin is a First Nations man in his 50s. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his 20s and placed under a guardianship order. A few years ago he incurred a spinal injury and has been using a wheelchair since.

‘I was put on public guardian for, like, drug-induced schizophrenic psychosis,’ he told the Royal Commission. ‘When I started being a drug addict, it just sort of spiralled. I tried to get help. I went to a psychiatrist and I cried out for help, and he treated me like dirt. Just didn't care about me.’

The psychiatrist put Irvin in a psychiatric ward under an involuntary treatment order.

‘They used that to sedate the Indigenous males. Like I've had a couple of friends that have died … Midazolam's a potentially lethal injection.’

About a decade ago, Irvin spent several years in prison.

‘I got out of jail expecting like … I thought I had the guardianship in place to find me somewhere, a room. I rang up the guardianship, they said … “You're not under the guardianship anymore.” Public trustee paid a psychiatrist that never seen me, out of my funding, to do a report on me to remove the appointment of the guardian … So it left public trustee in total control.’

Irvin wants the financial management order overturned.

‘Like I did need the public trustee in the beginning, but I don't need them now. I can full control my life. I'm not a drug addict no more.’

But he can’t get the legal representation or healthcare required to free himself from the system.

‘No solicitor wants to know about, as soon as I mention public trustee … And I haven't got money to pay someone that's willing to fight … I've got the forms, but I’ve got no doctor to fill out the forms. One, like … he said he can't do that. He said I need a capacity assessment from a neuropsychologist, but I'm having trouble even seeing that doctor again.’

Irwin said the public trustee is robbing him of his life savings.

‘They steal money and they don't care, they treat it like it's their money … They took all my super funds … just disappeared. I'm entitled to that money … It's for my retirement.’

Irvin has been to the ombudsman ‘hundreds of times’ to complain, but can’t get help. One staff member told him not to ring the office ever again.

Meanwhile, Irvin said NDIS service providers are exploiting him financially – either overcharging or charging for services not provided.

‘Like, one of my support coordinators was doing things for me that I didn't ask her, I told her not to … to use my funding up.’

Recently, Irvin received invoices for a psychologist he’d never seen. When he questioned it, he said the provider ‘bullied’ him.

‘These NDIS providers, they just care about the money … I just believe that they didn't do the services they were doing. But the NDIS informed me that they're going to take off my rights to approve the invoices because I said they’re corrupt.’

On another occasion, a provider billed him $2,000 for 20 hours work to fix his wheelchair.

‘He come out, looked at my chair and stayed … not even an hour.’

The NDIS paid the invoice.

‘That's the NDIA. They regulate who'll be a provider, who doesn't … And they only talk to me when it suits them, but if you've got a complaint against them, they try to shut you up, like, don't want you to make a noise.’