A Tasmanian disability care provider has been hit with the state’s largest-ever NDIS penalty after admitting to hundreds of failures to report serious incidents, including alleged abuse, neglect and sexual misconduct.
Oak Tasmania was ordered to pay $1.1 million by the Federal Court after the not-for-profit admitted breaching disability care laws on 480 occasions between 2019 and 2023.
The court heard the organisation failed to report 474 incidents to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission within required timeframes.
More than 100 of those incidents – involving alleged abuse, neglect, serious injury and sexual misconduct – should have been reported within 24 hours.
A further 370 incidents involving unauthorised restrictive practices were not reported within the required five business days, according to a statement of agreed facts tendered in court.
Justice Timothy McEvoy found that failing to report incidents “compromises the ability of the commissioner to keep participants safe”.
The court also found Oak failed to provide safe and competent care to five NDIS participants on six separate occasions.
In one case, a woman with multiple sclerosis who required 24-hour care was transferred from her bed to the shower on March 27, 2021 using equipment not recommended by her therapist.
She was hospitalised the following day with a fractured femur. The judgment said she likely suffered the injury during the showering and personal care incident.
Justice McEvoy found the contraventions “could have been avoided if Oak had put in place adequate reporting processes and guidelines for its staff members” for reporting incidents within required timeframes.
The judgment noted there was no evidence Oak had intended to breach the law.
Oak Tasmania issued a statement apologising for its failures.
“We are deeply sorry for failing to provide the standard of care that the people we support deserve,” the organisation said.
Oak said it had since implemented ‘significant reforms’, including improved risk management, clearer escalation pathways and more comprehensive incident reporting procedures.
The court also heard Oak’s parent company, Possability Group, merged with Independence Australia Group in September 2025, with all existing directors replaced.
Justice McEvoy accepted this reduced the need for specific deterrence, noting the organisation as it existed at the time of the offending “has ceased to have a separate existence”.
Oak was also ordered to pay $200,000 in legal costs.
