Reilly
Content Warning: These stories are about violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation and may include references to suicide or self-harming behaviours. They may contain graphic descriptions and strong language and may be distressing. Some narratives may be about First Nations people who have passed away. If you need support, please see Contact & support.
‘These people … They go from one person to the next person to the next person to the next person, and it’s making these people rich.’
Reilly is in his 40s and has cerebral palsy.
One day he was in a shop and a woman started talking to him.
‘She saw that I had a disability. She kept inviting me back until she worked out that I was vulnerable,’ Reilly told the Royal Commission.
The woman persuaded Reilly, who’s supported by the NDIS, to drop his service provider and employ her and her husband instead.
‘She came to my [NDIS funding] review meeting. As soon as she heard that I had [more than $100,000 in funding] they went home and she said to her husband that they need to work backwards from my total amount of funding to work out what they can pay themselves each week.’
Reilly said the couple invoiced the NDIS for services they didn’t provide.
‘They were charging [more than $2000] a week at times that I knew nothing about. They told me that they were going to give me copies of invoices and stuff but never did.’
The couple also charged the NDIS when they took Reilly to church.
‘Even if I drove myself to the church, they’d still come in another car and sit next to me and charge that amount of time that they’d been there.’
When he told the woman he didn’t want her to come to his appointments, Reilly said she instigated a sexual relationship ‘to keep [him] around longer’.
The couple tried to isolate him from his family and make him dependent on them.
‘They didn’t want anybody to see what was going on.’
When Reilly approached another NDIS service provider to employ a support coordinator, the couple became angry.
‘[They] had me in tears because they said that if I was going to have a support coordinator, they couldn’t do the care and stuff. And at that time I didn’t know what to do.’
Reilly said the couple also threatened him. He eventually contacted the NDIS, which helped him call the police.
‘[The police] said the report had to come from the NDIS because it’s not my money they were taking, it’s the NDIS’s.’
Reilly said the NDIS is now investigating.
‘You don’t need to have experience [to be a service provider]. You just need to go and get an ABN and then create a business name and you can go out and start working for yourself under the NDIS, which they did.’
Reilly said he developed post-traumatic stress disorder and is scared to employ support workers.
‘There’s not a day that I don’t wake up through the night and just grind my teeth … I guess that’s why I don’t have trust to have any more carers and stuff come in. And I’ve been asked if I want carers, but I just can’t do it. Can’t do it.’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.