The National Disability Insurance Agency boss, Martin Hoffman, has apologised after his staff used the social media posts of a woman applying for the scheme to challenge her eligibility.
Guardian Australia revealed on Friday that NDIA staff had created an “intelligence report” including examples of the woman’s Facebook and LinkedIn posts dating back as far as 2015.
The agency’s fraud investigators collected the posts after the woman, in her 30s and living with hypermobility spectrum disorder and chronic pain, had asked the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to overturn the decision to deny her NDIS access.
NDIA staff then sent this report to a doctor the agency had asked to assess the woman and provide an expert opinion on her condition.
Under questioning from the Greens senator Jordon Steele-John at Senate estimates on Friday night, Hoffman acknowledged the practice was wrong. He said it had only happened once.
“I take responsibility as agency head for what my agency did,” he said. “I’ve ascertained that it was a single case. I’ve communicated [to staff] that is was not useful or valuable information, and that action will not be repeated.”
Asked if he had apologised to the woman involved, Hoffman said, “I have not as yet”.
Asked if he would like to do so during the hearing, he replied, “I think, yes, senator”.
“I’m glad the decision was and access was granted … and I certainly regret that my agency used that information at that time,” he said.
The tribunal accepted the evidence of the woman and her treating specialist, finding she was eligible for the scheme. This ended a 21-month battle for NDIS support.
The judgment was also critical of the “intelligence report”, which it called “far from sound, on its face”, and the NDIA’s decision to provide the social media posts to its expert witness.
The rheumatologist called by the NDIA had drawn upon the “intelligence report” to find the woman did not experience “significant functional impairment” from her chronic pain, the tribunal said.
Last October, Hoffman was asked by the Liberal senator Hollie Hughes about reports she had heard from parents that NDIS planners were using social media in the NDIS planning process.
Hughes, whose son has autism, said parents were concerned social media posts of their children’s achievements might be taken out of context in determining their needs.
At the time, Hoffman replied that it was “not procedure. It is not policy”.
“It does not form evidence that is appropriate or suitable for decision-making under the act,” he said. “I’m certainly not aware of that. There’s no internal process like that at all.”
On Friday, Hoffman said he “reaffirmed” his evidence from the October hearing.
“Use of social media is not part of any planning or access decision-making processes in the agency,” he said. “So this was one case back in 2020 where it was used and I would agree that it was not appropriate or useful information for the purposes of the AAT.”
But he suggested there were other cases where NDIS applicants had “exaggerated their functional incapacity”.
“This is not a common thing and I’m not suggesting it is a common thing, but it just goes to the wider context in which our staff and the AAT have to make very difficult and complex judgments and decisions,” he said.
It comes as Senate estimates also revealed the agency’s spending on external legal fees has soared to $32m in only the past eight months, up from $22m spent across the whole 2020-21 financial year.
Advocates have criticised the agency for taking a “combative” approach in the AAT process, which can often see people with disability pitted against externally engaged lawyers from top firms.
