Office of the Public AdvocateAbuse, in its various forms, remains a pervasive issue for people with disability, according to the 2024 OPA Annual Report
Financial abuse or exploitation was the most reported form of abuse, with OPA guardians regularly seeing financial abuse experienced by NDIS participants who are exploited by their NDIS providers, the report said.
“Where previously the target was a person’s life savings or assets, this year OPA has observed that a person’s NDIS funding is what motivates attempts at financial exploitation.”
OPA staff identified 3149 instances this year where a person with a disability was suspected of experiencing abuse or neglect. In 560 of these matters, immediate action was required to ensure the person’s safety. In addition, OPA’s volunteer Community Visitors identified a further 327 issues of abuse throughout the year.
Please note that there was an error in the OPA 2022-23 Annual Report. The data on page 44 of the 2022-23 Annual Report under ‘What you tell us’ should be replaced by Appendix D of the the 2023-24 Annual Report.
