The Hon. Alan Robertson SC was appointed to conduct an independent review into the NDIS Commission’s regulation of the provider of NDIS supports and services to Ms Ann-Marie Smith, an NDIS participant who died on 6 April 2020 in appalling circumstances.

Recommendations include:

• Acting earlier to identify people who are vulnerable to harm or neglect (a joint responsibility of the NDIA and NDIS Commission).
• No vulnerable NDIS participant should have a sole carer providing services in their home.
• For each vulnerable NDIS participant, there should be a specific person with overall responsibility for that participant’s safety and wellbeing.
• Consideration should be given to the Commission establishing its own equivalent to State and Territory based Community Visitor Schemes to provide for individual face-to-face contact with vulnerable NDIS participants.
• The Commission should conduct occasional visits to assess the safety and wellbeing of selected individual NDIS participants, whether or not a complaint has been made or reportable incident notified. The Commission and the NDIA should have a freer and two way flow of information for this purpose so that the Commission can make informed decisions about who to visit.
• Various amendments were proposed to definitions and scope relating to reportable incidents and complaints.
• The Commission should know whether a person is an NDIS participant and the supports they receive from whom via information sharing with the NDIA (rather than relying solely on information provided by providers).
• Improvements to the exchange of information between State and Territory emergency services, schemes for people with disability, the Commission and the NDIA.
• The Commissioner should have statutory power to ban a person from working in the disability sector even where that person is no longer employed or engaged.

The report is available for download in a variety of formats along with the terms of reference and transcripts from consultation meetings held in July 2020.