NSW Trustee and Guardian Client Abuse - Reader Feedback

Since setting up this website, I have received numerous complaints about NSW Trustee and Guardian (NSWTG) and the way they treat their clients when placed under financial management orders. Many of these complaints related to the forced selling of clients’ homes, the alleged theft of valuable items from unoccupied properties, and the total disregard shown for both the wishes and needs of the clients. In addition, there were concerns over the lengthy delays involved in winding up deceased estates where NSWTG was made the executor and then charging exorbitant fees for doing so. Even straightforward estates, involving only small amounts of cash and a few personal belongings, can take them years to finalise I was told. 

In addition, there were complaints against the NSW Ombudsman and the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) for failing to investigate complaints made against NSWTG. There were concerns that the Government of the day, whether Liberal or Labor, was ignoring the problem and refusing to put an end to the abuse, exploitation and general mistreatment meted out to NSWTG’s elderly and disadvantaged clients, while the Opposition sat back and did nothing towards holding the Government to account for letting this all happen. The NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) also came in for criticism for being too ready to put those brought before it under financial management orders and for supporting NSWTG’s decisions which were against the clients’ best interests. 

It seems that whenever a managed person is placed in a nursing home, NSWTG’s usual response is to sell the family home and then have the proceeds of the sale placed in cash deposits earning low rates of interest. Not only does this provide a poorer income stream than that achieved from renting the property, but the capital growth potential gets lost altogether. Selling family homes against the client’s wishes should only occur as a last resort. Instead, NSWTG is more concerned about avoiding the additional workload which managing rental properties involves. Clients and their families can only trust that NSWTG officials have not been lured into the sales by the lucrative referral fees on offer from real estate agents seeking properties to sell. 

I have received emails from families of managed persons who have taken NSWTG to NCAT to try and stop the sale of their homes. These applications have usually been unsuccessful despite the families putting forward viable alternatives as to how they proposed to raise the balance of funds needed for nursing home bonds. It seems that unless the families can come up with the full funds required up front in their entirety, NCAT will not put a stop to NSWTG selling their homes. 

In one case referred to me, the client had become so distressed over NSWTG’s decision to sell her home that the Public Guardian decided her health would be better served with her staying where she was in a facility providing lower level care, but where a nursing home bond was not required. NSWTG went ahead with their plans to sell her home regardless, even though the funds were no longer needed, and a long legal battle ensued before the son was eventually successful in stopping the sale from taking place (see Greg S. versus NSWTG).

Accusations of stealing the managed persons belongings from unoccupied properties are commonplace in NSW, judging by the emails received through my website, with NSWTG and the clients’ families each blaming the other for the thefts. In other States, thefts are reported to the police as a matter of course and any Public Trustee officials involved are brought before the courts and dealt with the same way as anybody else. This is not the case in NSW where reporting thefts to the police is at the discretion of the NSWTG Senior Client Service Officer, according to the advice I was given by Ms Sarah Unwin, an investigating officer with the NSW Ombudsman’s Office. 

This is a most unsatisfactory state of affairs, particularly when the Senior Client Service Officer could potentially be the party responsible for the thefts or involved in any cover ups. It is clear from the complaints I have received that NSWTG has not been making it a practice to report thefts, even when this has been requested by the clients and their families. I am informed that when the families have approached police themselves, they have been turned away and told the thefts must be reported by NSWTG in their role as financial manager for the affected clients. 

I have raised my concerns on this issue with the NSW Ombudsman but the response I received from the Acting Ombudsman, Mr Chris Wheeler, was to basically support NSWTG’s position in not reporting the thefts. Mr Wheeler was of the opinion that the police were unlikely to devote resources to investigating such complaints and in these circumstances reporting the thefts would likely achieve no useful outcome (letter dated 30/7/2015). This sort of response will only lead to more of the same with those having inclinations to steal encouraged by the fact that they were unlikely to be prosecuted. It must be made absolutely mandatory for NSWTG to report thefts to the police, particularly when the clients and families affected are demanding it. It is standard practice in other States. It must be made standard practice in NSW as well. 

In Marilyn’s case (see Marilyn’s Story), virtually the entire contents of her home were taken but NSWTG still refused to carry out Marilyn’s instructions and report the thefts to the police. Instead, they told her that her son and I had been responsible and that they wanted to save her the embarrassment of having us prosecuted. This was patently untrue and my own investigations subsequently revealed that the removal and disposal of Marilyn’s possessions had been organised through Debbie Albert, the real estate agent who had sold Marilyn’s home for NSWTG, and that she had done this with the full authority and knowledge of NSWTG. This was confirmed by an invoice which NSWTG had paid which included paying $1,100.00 to remove and dispose of all Marilyn’s personal effects and furniture. 

Yet despite this situation, Mr Damon Quinn, who was Director of Client Services with NSWTG at the time, came out and stated in a letter dated 14/7/2014 that an unknown person was responsible for taking Marilyn’s personal belongings and furniture. He went on to say that the only items left behind were those of no value. Mr Quinn added there was no sign of forced entry and that he understood both Marilyn’s son and I had held keys to the property. Mr Quinn’s insinuations here are clear and he made them despite NSWTG’s files revealing that NSWTG had authorised and paid for the clearance. NSWTG is hardly going to be paying the full $1,100.00 quoted for the clearance just to have the few items left behind of no value taken away but this did not stop Mr Quinn from making his insinuations. 

As stated, it was only after subpoenaing NSWTG’s files in 2017 that I discovered it was the real estate agent Debbie Albert who had arranged the clearance of Marilyn’s property. She had organised for Marilyn’s personal effects and furniture to be taken away by the local council using up all Marilyn’s annual council kerbside clearance allowances. She then went and charged Marilyn for the council clearance under the cover of a bogus contractor business that did not exist. This was despite the clearance having already been paid for by Marilyn’s council rates. Marilyn’s household appliances and other items of greatest value are believed to have been sold off to second hand dealers in the area with whom Debbie Albert was known to have connections. 

I would like anyone connected with clients of NSWTG who had their properties sold through Elders Real Estate of Killarney Vale prior to its closure in 2016 to contact me. I have evidence to show that Debbie Albert made similar property clearance charges against the accounts of other clients of NSWTG under the guise of the same non-existent contractor business. In view of what she did to Marilyn, these charges against other clients must also be regarded as highly suspicious, particularly when she saw the need to make them using a false identity. I have commenced my own legal proceedings against Debbie Albert, as NSWTG refused to report her fraudulent charges and thefts to the police, which were incurred while Marilyn was their client. NSWTG, however, still needs to be doing something on behalf of their other clients who remain under direct management and were affected by Debbie Albert’s scam. 

As most will be aware, many of NSWTG’s branches were closed down as part of a restructuring process back in 2015 and 2016. This was ostensibly to save costs but it was also seen as a solution where the branches had become a problem. Gosford was one of the branches to be closed down and was known for its dealings with the less reputable elements in the real estate industry on the Central Coast. It sold clients properties through Debbie Albert, who had a reputation for offering incentives to boost sales, and entered into exclusive agency agreements with her. Debbie Albert had a long history of failing to account for rental monies she was responsible for collecting and property owners in the know steered well clear of her business. Her franchise with Elders Real Estate was terminated in December 2016 as a result of her conduct. 

The allegations of theft that I have received through my website mostly related to the disappearance of smaller items such as jewellery. This can make it very difficult to trace who was responsible. Even so, NSWTG should have reported the thefts to the police so that the complaints could be investigated. I have received only isolated complaints of larger items of value being stolen, and none of properties being entirely stripped the way Marilyn’s home had been. I am prepared to assist in pursuing these thefts if sufficient evidence can be provided. However, it is the families of clients who had their properties sold through Elders Real Estate of Killarney Vale, in particular, who should contact me as Marilyn was certainly not the only victim of Debbie Albert’s fraudulent scheme and any inappropriate use of clients’ council kerbside clearance allowances can be readily traced. 

I have received numerous calls for a Royal Commission into NSWTG over its financial abuse of its clients. The best way to achieve this would be for the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, currently in progress, be widened to include government owned financial service providers as part of its hearings, rather than just those in the private sector. However, I cannot see the Commonwealth Government agreeing to this without the support of all the States and Territories across Australia and there is little prospect of that happening. The State Government in NSW would almost certainly oppose having NSWTG made part of the Royal Commission’s hearings and could be expected to do so with the full support and backing of the State Opposition. They would see a Royal Commission as unnecessary as they already have the Ombudsman and ICAC to oversee NSWTG, 

However, if the Ombudsman’s investigation into Marilyn’s complaint is anything to go by, the standards of his investigations would need to improve considerably for his organization to become an effective watchdog. Feedback through my website indicates that other complainants have had similar experiences to my own in their dealings with the Ombudsman. This is most concerning, as most people do not have the money to take their complaints to court as I did and are left without a remedy. In fairness to the Ombudsman, it should be pointed out he has no powers over the government agencies and can only make recommendations. He is unlikely to make recommendations which he knows the agencies will ignore. This would not be the case with a Royal Commission which is given powers to enforce changes and have offenders held to account for their conduct. 

As for ICAC, it only deals with conduct that is corrupt or dishonest, as distinct from wrong conduct or bad management, which could instead be caused by a number of other factors including negligence and incompetence. In Marilyn’s case, whilst I could prove to ICAC that a NSWTG official authorised a payment from Marilyn’s funds to pay for charges which were fraudulent to a business that did not exist, I could not prove that the official did this knowingly or that he had benefitted from authorizing the payment. I could only prove that this same official was authorizing similar payments from other clients’ accounts to this same non-existent business. ICAC refused to investigate and dismissed my complaint instead. 

It would be extremely difficult for anyone from outside the public service sector to prove that public service officials were receiving corrupt payments without gaining access to their financial records. This is unlikely to happen so, unless ICAC agrees to look into the suspicious circumstances surrounding irregular payments, complaints to ICAC from the general public will serve no useful purpose. ICAC’s worth comes from having public service officials who blow the whistle on their fellow employees, as these officials have access to documentary evidence and other material to force ICAC to investigate their complaints. For families of NSWTG’s clients, their only recourse currently is through the courts. A Royal Commission would change that situation. 

There has been a great deal of media coverage recently into misconduct in the financial services industry as a result of the Royal Commission. However, at least the banks customers have the choice of taking their business elsewhere if they feel they are being ripped off or are not happy with the banks services. Clients under financial management orders with NSWTG, or the Public Trustees in other States and Territories, do not have this choice and are locked into the abuse and exploitation, It is no coincidence that the States with the worst records for dishonest politicians and corrupt governments, namely NSW and Qld, are also among the States having the worst problems with the conduct of the Public Trustee, as it spreads through the whole establishment like a cancer. 

Now there is to be a Royal Commission into the abuse of our elderly citizens in aged care centres and to the quality of care those centres provide. The ABC has been at the forefront for bringing this problem to the public’s attention and in bringing on a Royal Commission. It is to be commended for doing this. It has also been active in drawing attention to the financial exploitation and stealing the elderly suffer from those closest to them, usually other members of their own families. However, the media has generally been silent when it comes to reporting the worst offender in financial abuse of the elderly, the Public Trustee, despite receiving numerous complaints from clients and their families. 

The level and extent of the abuse varies greatly between the States but all show a disregard for the wishes and needs of their clients or for protecting the assets of their estates. There have been enquiries and investigations held at the State level in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia but only the Victorian investigation achieved any meaningful outcomes, probably because it received considerably more publicity. The South Australian investigation revealed serious account keeping discrepancies involving very large sums of money but, without the publicity, very little became of it. At least the Victorian, South Australian and Queensland Public Trustees are seemingly reporting incidents of thefts from clients’ unoccupied properties to the police when told to do so by the clients and their families. NSWTG, for its part, simply sweeps the thefts under the carpet and has not been investigated into over its failure to follow proper account keeping procedures. 

It is very clear that the States have been unwilling or unable to deal with the serious abuses the various Public Trustees are inflicting on their clients. Politicians in NSW, in particular, have set very poor standards for themselves over the years when in government so it must come as no surprise when it has a public service sector that does likewise. NSWTG holds large sums of money in trust on behalf of the State’s most vulnerable people. It does so as part of a bureaucracy which cannot be trusted. NSWTG needs to be included as a part of the current Royal Commission’s hearings at the very least, although a Royal Commission into Public Trustees across Australia generally would be a better option due to the extent of the abuse and exploitation involved. Media outcries, like those made by the ABC against aged care facilities, would ensure that this happens.