NACC weighing public inquiry into $44Bn NDIS

ANTHONY KLAN

The boss of the National Anti-Corruption Commission says he is considering launching a public inquiry into the $44 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme — including holding open hearings for the first time.

“I am considering the possibility of a public inquiry into corruption risks and vulnerabilities relating to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS),” said NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton.

“Should that eventuate, the Commission will call for public submissions”.

Brereton made the statements in a letter Thursday to lawyer Karen Kline, who blew the whistle on serious wrongdoing by NDIS administrator, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

The cost of the NDIS has blown out to $44.3 billion a year and it has been beset by claims of corruption and waste.

 “I am considering the possibility of a public inquiry into…the National Disability Insurance Scheme” — Paul Brereton

Today Bill Shorten, a former opposition leader, retires as NDIS minister, after 17 years in federal parliament.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday announced Amanda Rishworth would become NDIS minister, with Anne Aly to become NDIS “minister assisting”, in changes ahead of the federal election.

The NACC was a key 2022 election promise of the Albanese Government, but it has been beset by scandals, including over its refusal to investigate referrals from the Robodebt Royal Commission.

The government promised to deliver a “transparent” NACC “with teeth”, but instead installed a body that operates almost entirely in secret, with public hearings in undefined “exceptional circumstances”.

It has held no public hearings since it was created on July 1, 2023.

“Should (the NDIS investigation) eventuate, the Commission will call for public submissions” — Paul Brereton

As revealed by The Klaxon last week, the NACC has completed just three investigations since it was launched 18 months ago — and in each case it says it found no corruption.

That’s despite the NACC only launching investigations in the most serious of cases and after multiple stages of triaging, and having rejected and spent around $140 million to date.

What the three completed investigations were about is being hidden by the NACC, which says it is not required to provide a report when it states it has found no corruption.

The NACC is refusing to say whether the they include the $80 million “watergate” water buy-backs scandal involving shadow treasurer Angus Taylor.

The NDIS was introduced by the ALP Gillard Government in July 2013, months before losing power.

It was then administered by the Coalition Government for almost a decade.

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How The Klaxon broke the story. Source: The Klaxon. Source: ABC News/Ian Cutmore

Brereton’s statements come as the NACC has refused to investigate Kline’s case, despite top-level findings of serious wrongdoing.

Gold Coast-based lawyer Kline has since April 2022 been fighting the NDIA for documents in connection to a client who was rejected for certain NDIA funding.

As previously revealed, Kline’s whistleblowing drew public condemnation of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) by Elizabeth Tydd, head of the Office of the Australian Information Commission (OAIC) and the nation’s Freedom of Information Commissioner.

In response to Kline’s case, Tydd found the AAT — which in October changed its name to the “Administrative Review Tribunal” (ART) — had engaged in a string of breaches and called for a major changes.

Kline had applied to the AAT, as the chief reviewer of Federal Government decisions, for documents related to her FoI case under freedom of information laws.

She says the documents she received were “a mess”.

“It was very, very clear this file had been manipulated,” she told The Klaxon.

“There were files missing and the number of duplicated documents was just unbelievable”.

Kline then took the matter to the OAIC.

The OAIC said it would not undertake a formal “review” — because a “merits review” would “most appropriately be handled” by the AAT.

Regardless, Tydd — then the Freedom of Information Commission but not yet OAIC boss — issued a 31-page document, based Kline’s nine complaints against the AAT.

Tydd found overwhelmingly in favour of Kline.

How The Klaxon broke the story. Source: The Klaxon

She found the AAT had ”unduly delayed” providing documents; improperly disclosed private information — and “made contradictory statements” as to the “existence of documents” applied for.

Tydd called for the AAT to officially apologise and issued it with 13 “formal recommendations”, giving it timelines of between one and three months to comply.

Regarding Kline’s complaints, Tydd found that in five of the cases the AAT had failed to comply with FoI laws and guidelines. (In two cases Tydd made no findings because they were outside “FoI complainant investigation”).

Kline said the case involved “serious wrongdoing at the highest levels” and so she was pursuing the matter despite her client having given up on the NDIS funding.

Brereton has now written to Kline saying the NACC will not launch an investigation into the matter, including because material she provided did not provide any “further information” that “documents have been improperly withheld”.

“The Commission is not satisfied that the additional information you have provided demonstrates a viable hypothesis that any corrupt conduct…may have occurred,” he writes.

“Even if it did, it would be disproportionate and inappropriate for the Commission to open an investigation”.

Brereton said he had appointed an unnamed NACC “Deputy Commissioner” to consider the case, before he “reviewed” it personally.

“We can only investigate a relatively small proportion of the numerous matters that are referred to us,” writes Brereton.

Kline said the NACC’S refusal was a “disgrace”, and she would continue to fight the matter.

In the year to June 2023, the NACC launched investigations into 24 matters and decided to take “no further action” in 221 cases, its annual report states.

Disability lawyer Karen Kline. Source: LinkedIn

The NACC is suffering from serious credibility issues after it announced last June it would not investigate six public officials referred to it “for civil action or criminal prosecution” by Robodebt Royal Commissioner Catherine Holmes SC.

“Robodebt was a crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal, and it made many people feel like criminals,” the Royal Commission found.

The Robodebt scheme, run by the former Liberal government from 2015 to 2019, unlawfully raised over $1.7 billion in debts against 526,000 social security recipients, with some taking their lives.

Brereton said the NACC’s Robodebt decisions were made by a “Deputy Commissioner” — who he and the NACC refused to name.

It was subsequently revealed Brereton failed to “recuse” himself from those decisions, despite an admitted conflict of interest.

Following widespread public anger, NACC Inspector Gail Furness SC launched a formal investigation and found Brereton guilty of “officer misconduct”.

In response, Brereton was caught lying about the findings, heavily downplaying their seriousness.

There are widespread calls for Brereton to resign, allowing for an overhaul of the agency to restore public trust.

He has refused.

Not one public official has been stood down — or even demoted — over the $1.76bn Robodebt scheme since it was launched a decade ago.

On December 13 Brereton said the NACC had appointed former High Court judge Geoffrey Nettle KC to “reconsider” its decisions to not investigate the Robodebt referrals.

Brereton was appointed by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.

Dreyfus is the MP for Issacs in Melbourne’s south-east, which includes the suburbs of Mordialloc, Chelsea, Dingley Village, Parkdale and Mentone.

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