The NDIS Commission has told the royal commission eight NDIS participants have died from Covid-19 during the pandemic. One NDIS worker has also died. #disabilityrc
The Commission is getting a bit of a pasting here for not being proactive in checking that providers are meeting their obligations, particularly during the pandemic
Oh dear. The commission's registrar, Samantha Taylor, is asked if "procedures and practices during the time of the coronavirus pandemic have not materially changed since pre-coronavirus?" She says: "That is correct"
Taylor is now going through some of the things they have done in response to the pandemic.
NDIS commissioner Graham Head has now jumped in to clarify that Taylor's response was that the commission's regulatory powers (he says "regulatory toolkit" has not changed pre pandemic and now
Taylor is asked if they have reviewed why the infections have occurred. Taylor says: "Well not for all of them no, because we've still got an active crisis in hand." There are three investigations underway that involve "multiple individuals".
Taylor says it would not be "reasonable: to investigate in the "cases of private person living in their own home who has been infected with Covid-19"
One wonders if the subtext to all of this is that the NDIS commission doesn't have the resources to investigate all cases. It has not said this in the inquiry but it's hard to think of another justifiable reason. Commissioner Sackville appears baffled by some the answers
