Tom

Tom has an acquired brain injury and limited movement on his left side. He has been living in supported accommodation for the past 10 years or so with several other people. During that time he has seen his fellow tenants abused, exploited and neglected on a daily basis. ‘Too many stories … where do you start?’ he said. ‘People are being hurt here every day.’

Tom began his submission with a story of neglect. A man at his supported accommodation facility had mobility issues. One day, staff strapped him to a standing machine and left him there, alone. Outside the lawns were being mown loudly. But over the top of that noise, Tom could hear the man screaming.

Tom ran into the man’s unit and found him alone, still strapped to the machine but nearly on the ground. Tom struggled to lift him and put the standing machine level again. He did his best to straighten him out and settle him down, but the man was screaming in pain the whole time.

Later the ambulance came and took the man to hospital. Doctors confirmed that both his legs had broken as a result of standing and not being able to hold his own weight up.

Tom told us he complained to various departments, commissions and tribunals but ‘outcome, nothing’. The person responsible for the neglect and injury was away from work for a couple of weeks and returned ‘with nothing to say about it’.

Telling us about another tenant, Tom said: ‘They left her to live in conditions that were worse than a pig sty. They were taking about $100,000 from her funding every year, and not looking after her. It broke my heart.’

He also told us: ‘Another guy has paid near on $100,000 per year for over a decade, close to a million dollars funding. This person can walk ten metres or more fairly easily. But in the ten years I have lived here for, he has never had any physio. So he has to live in a wheelchair. He always says to me, “I wish I could walk”. It’s sad because I can’t help him.’

‘There is a guy I know’, Tom continued, ‘from Afghanistan. And for a long while he couldn’t speak English very well, and he hardly saw his support worker until he could speak English better’.

Tom said he tries to help his fellow residents where he can. Sometimes that means getting them simple things they need, like milk or toothpaste or helping them to do something – all things the service provider is supposed to be doing but often doesn’t.

On occasion, Tom said, he has also tried to help by making a complaint, but recently this has landed him in the criminal justice system.

Tom told us that he had complained to his service provider about the senior person responsible for services. The person Tom complained about called the police and told them he was scared of Tom. At the time, Tom couldn’t walk or talk and had to write on a whiteboard to communicate. Tom received a four-year intervention order banning him from talking to the person or the service provider – effectively banning him from making complaints.

When the service provider was bought out by another large company, Tom emailed the secretary of this company telling them about what was going on in the facility. The company responded by calling the police and claiming Tom had breached the intervention order. Tom told us the service provider is applying for an extension of the order for another four years, which means he still won’t be able to make his complaint.

‘I am not allowed to talk to him or mention his name in an email. I am also not allowed to contact his employer about him … I’ve tried so many times to get a contact person I can talk to involved in the management of the facility, but the only reply I’ve had was a visit from the local police about a possible breach of the …Court Order.’

At the time of contacting the Royal Commission, Tom was awaiting an upcoming court hearing about a breach of his order that carries a possible two-year jail sentence.