Under review: spotlight on SPL's management of vulnerable people in sublet properties
INDUSTRY insiders say illegal boarding house operator Sanctuary Place Living is running homes that flout laws against restrictive practices involving people with disability and fall short of requirements for parolees.
While the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is continuing its investigation into SPL, Corrective Services NSW has announced it is also reviewing the organisation and its suitability to provide accommodation to parolees.
Sanctuary Place Living, or SPL, run by Michael Mason and his partner Jacqui Whiteford, lease properties throughout the Hunter which they sub-let to NDIS participants, parolees, and people on workers compensation, disability pensions and unemployment benefits.
Their occupancy agreements include rules against "unauthorised" guests entering their rentals, including disability support workers who in many cases are NDIS-funded to work with people in their homes.
To deny their entry is in breach of laws designed to ensure people with disability are treated with respect and dignity, and have choice and control over how, who and when their supports are delivered, disability service providers say.
"This is a restrictive practice, when they cannot access supports in the home, if they are funded to receive that," said one Hunter-based support coordinator.
Having worked with numerous people who live, or have lived, in SPL-managed homes, the woman said she was disgusted with the way the organisation treated some tenants.
"The fee structure, the agreement that leaves them with no rights ... they can be moved at any time of day, with a text message, from nobody, just signed SPL, and they have to pack up and they're moved," she said.
"They get no say in it, they are thrown together, there is no matching that takes place."
This week several residents were forced to move from an SPL-managed property at Rutherford to which police were called on Monday when SPL staff turned up unannounced, demanding access to the property to retrieve furniture.
The residents had been given less than one business day's notice that they were being relocated.
The week before that, SPL moved 20 people out of homes in Elemore Vale. They were given five days notice but SPL staff turned up without notice with a removalist truck two days early, at 6am on a Monday (May 5), the Herald was told.
A number of other SPL-leased and managed properties have been vacated in the past two months.
Multiple property owners who have leased houses to SPL have said the organisation was regularly behind on rent and bills, and did not cooperate with reasonable requests to conduct routine house inspections.
In contrast, SPL demands the right to carry out inspections at will, whether or not people are at home, including opening fridges and cupboards and going through personal belongings, sources say.
"They just come in whenever they want to, whenever they wish," said one community support worker who did not wish to be named to protect her clients' identities.
"They don't give them any warning. They turn their cars off and, when they get to the start of the driveway, they roll it down silently to sneak up on these people and give them no warning.
"And they open the doors really quietly and go through their bedrooms. It doesn't matter if they're in there, it doesn't matter what they're doing. They let themselves in and they go through all their stuff."
Some residents have had bedbugs in the mattresses they are provided with but are too scared to speak up for fear of being evicted or sent to the Alma Mater, she said.
"Because that's what they've done to other residents living in their other homes that have had bedbugs," she said.
"And at the Alma Mater .... the rooms are smaller than a jail cell.
"We hear that they're being investigated .... Yet, these vulnerable people are still being taken advantage of. And no one's standing up for them. How can we stay silent?"
In some houses where people pay between $335 and $370 or more per week for a room, some with an ensuite, SPL is set to make double the rent they are paying to property owners through their sub-lease arrangements, as well as in some cases also claiming a portion of tenants' NDIS-funded supports.
In a statement to the Newcastle Herald, SPL said it did not engage in any unlawful restrictive practices. It denied it was running an illegal boarding house at Mayfield, the Alma Mater, and it denied robbing residents of rights under the Residential Tenancy Act.
"Moreover, where appropriate, the circumstances of SPL's tenancy agreements have been determined by the NSW Civil Administrative Tribunal to not constitute residential tenancy agreements," the statement said.
"Moreover, no parolee has been moved from any residence without sufficient notice except in extreme circumstances where serious crimes have been committed or threatened, such as episodes of violence against other occupants."
The City of Newcastle has confirmed SPL did not seek approval to run a boarding house at 88 Hanbury Street, Mayfield, a building now named 'Alma Mater', when it opened two months ago.
Corrective Services NSW said following recent concerning reports about the operating practices of SPL, it is "reviewing its suitability as a place of accommodation for parolees".
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has also confirmed it is investigating concerns raised about SPL but is "unable to comment further".
"Participants have the right to fair treatment, transparency, and quality services under the NDIS," a commission spokesperson said.
"The NDIS Commission strongly encourages participants, their families, and advocates to report any concerns regarding unethical provider behaviour."
INDUSTRY insiders say illegal boarding house operator Sanctuary Place Living is running homes that flout laws against restrictive practices involving people with disability and fall short of requirements for parolees.
While the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is continuing its investigation into SPL, Corrective Services NSW has announced it is also reviewing the organisation and its suitability to provide accommodation to parolees.
Sanctuary Place Living, or SPL, run by Michael Mason and his partner Jacqui Whiteford, lease properties throughout the Hunter which they sub-let to NDIS participants, parolees, and people on workers compensation, disability pensions and unemployment benefits.
Their occupancy agreements include rules against "unauthorised" guests entering their rentals, including disability support workers who in many cases are NDIS-funded to work with people in their homes.
To deny their entry is in breach of laws designed to ensure people with disability are treated with respect and dignity, and have choice and control over how, who and when their supports are delivered, disability service providers say.
"This is a restrictive practice, when they cannot access supports in the home, if they are funded to receive that," said one Hunter-based support coordinator.
Having worked with numerous people who live, or have lived, in SPL-managed homes, the woman said she was disgusted with the way the organisation treated some tenants.
"The fee structure, the agreement that leaves them with no rights ... they can be moved at any time of day, with a text message, from nobody, just signed SPL, and they have to pack up and they're moved," she said.
"They get no say in it, they are thrown together, there is no matching that takes place."
This week several residents were forced to move from an SPL-managed property at Rutherford to which police were called on Monday when SPL staff turned up unannounced, demanding access to the property to retrieve furniture.
The residents had been given less than one business day's notice that they were being relocated.
The week before that, SPL moved 20 people out of homes in Elemore Vale. They were given five days notice but SPL staff turned up without notice with a removalist truck two days early, at 6am on a Monday (May 5), the Herald was told.
A number of other SPL-leased and managed properties have been vacated in the past two months.
Multiple property owners who have leased houses to SPL have said the organisation was regularly behind on rent and bills, and did not cooperate with reasonable requests to conduct routine house inspections.
In contrast, SPL demands the right to carry out inspections at will, whether or not people are at home, including opening fridges and cupboards and going through personal belongings, sources say.
"They just come in whenever they want to, whenever they wish," said one community support worker who did not wish to be named to protect her clients' identities.
"They don't give them any warning. They turn their cars off and, when they get to the start of the driveway, they roll it down silently to sneak up on these people and give them no warning.
"And they open the doors really quietly and go through their bedrooms. It doesn't matter if they're in there, it doesn't matter what they're doing. They let themselves in and they go through all their stuff."
Some residents have had bedbugs in the mattresses they are provided with but are too scared to speak up for fear of being evicted or sent to the Alma Mater, she said.
"Because that's what they've done to other residents living in their other homes that have had bedbugs," she said.
"And at the Alma Mater .... the rooms are smaller than a jail cell.
"We hear that they're being investigated .... Yet, these vulnerable people are still being taken advantage of. And no one's standing up for them. How can we stay silent?"
In some houses where people pay between $335 and $370 or more per week for a room, some with an ensuite, SPL is set to make double the rent they are paying to property owners through their sub-lease arrangements, as well as in some cases also claiming a portion of tenants' NDIS-funded supports.
In a statement to the Newcastle Herald, SPL said it did not engage in any unlawful restrictive practices. It denied it was running an illegal boarding house at Mayfield, the Alma Mater, and it denied robbing residents of rights under the Residential Tenancy Act.
"Moreover, where appropriate, the circumstances of SPL's tenancy agreements have been determined by the NSW Civil Administrative Tribunal to not constitute residential tenancy agreements," the statement said.
"Moreover, no parolee has been moved from any residence without sufficient notice except in extreme circumstances where serious crimes have been committed or threatened, such as episodes of violence against other occupants."
The City of Newcastle has confirmed SPL did not seek approval to run a boarding house at 88 Hanbury Street, Mayfield, a building now named 'Alma Mater', when it opened two months ago.
Corrective Services NSW said following recent concerning reports about the operating practices of SPL, it is "reviewing its suitability as a place of accommodation for parolees".
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has also confirmed it is investigating concerns raised about SPL but is "unable to comment further".
"Participants have the right to fair treatment, transparency, and quality services under the NDIS," a commission spokesperson said.
"The NDIS Commission strongly encourages participants, their families, and advocates to report any concerns regarding unethical provider behaviour."
INDUSTRY insiders say illegal boarding house operator Sanctuary Place Living is running homes that flout laws against restrictive practices involving people with disability and fall short of requirements for parolees.
While the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is continuing its investigation into SPL, Corrective Services NSW has announced it is also reviewing the organisation and its suitability to provide accommodation to parolees.
Sanctuary Place Living, or SPL, run by Michael Mason and his partner Jacqui Whiteford, lease properties throughout the Hunter which they sub-let to NDIS participants, parolees, and people on workers compensation, disability pensions and unemployment benefits.
Their occupancy agreements include rules against "unauthorised" guests entering their rentals, including disability support workers who in many cases are NDIS-funded to work with people in their homes.
To deny their entry is in breach of laws designed to ensure people with disability are treated with respect and dignity, and have choice and control over how, who and when their supports are delivered, disability service providers say.
"This is a restrictive practice, when they cannot access supports in the home, if they are funded to receive that," said one Hunter-based support coordinator.
Having worked with numerous people who live, or have lived, in SPL-managed homes, the woman said she was disgusted with the way the organisation treated some tenants.
"The fee structure, the agreement that leaves them with no rights ... they can be moved at any time of day, with a text message, from nobody, just signed SPL, and they have to pack up and they're moved," she said.
"They get no say in it, they are thrown together, there is no matching that takes place."
This week several residents were forced to move from an SPL-managed property at Rutherford to which police were called on Monday when SPL staff turned up unannounced, demanding access to the property to retrieve furniture.
The residents had been given less than one business day's notice that they were being relocated.
The week before that, SPL moved 20 people out of homes in Elemore Vale. They were given five days notice but SPL staff turned up without notice with a removalist truck two days early, at 6am on a Monday (May 5), the Herald was told.
A number of other SPL-leased and managed properties have been vacated in the past two months.
Multiple property owners who have leased houses to SPL have said the organisation was regularly behind on rent and bills, and did not cooperate with reasonable requests to conduct routine house inspections.
In contrast, SPL demands the right to carry out inspections at will, whether or not people are at home, including opening fridges and cupboards and going through personal belongings, sources say.
"They just come in whenever they want to, whenever they wish," said one community support worker who did not wish to be named to protect her clients' identities.
"They don't give them any warning. They turn their cars off and, when they get to the start of the driveway, they roll it down silently to sneak up on these people and give them no warning.
"And they open the doors really quietly and go through their bedrooms. It doesn't matter if they're in there, it doesn't matter what they're doing. They let themselves in and they go through all their stuff."
Some residents have had bedbugs in the mattresses they are provided with but are too scared to speak up for fear of being evicted or sent to the Alma Mater, she said.
"Because that's what they've done to other residents living in their other homes that have had bedbugs," she said.
"And at the Alma Mater .... the rooms are smaller than a jail cell.
"We hear that they're being investigated .... Yet, these vulnerable people are still being taken advantage of. And no one's standing up for them. How can we stay silent?"
In some houses where people pay between $335 and $370 or more per week for a room, some with an ensuite, SPL is set to make double the rent they are paying to property owners through their sub-lease arrangements, as well as in some cases also claiming a portion of tenants' NDIS-funded supports.
In a statement to the Newcastle Herald, SPL said it did not engage in any unlawful restrictive practices. It denied it was running an illegal boarding house at Mayfield, the Alma Mater, and it denied robbing residents of rights under the Residential Tenancy Act.
"Moreover, where appropriate, the circumstances of SPL's tenancy agreements have been determined by the NSW Civil Administrative Tribunal to not constitute residential tenancy agreements," the statement said.
"Moreover, no parolee has been moved from any residence without sufficient notice except in extreme circumstances where serious crimes have been committed or threatened, such as episodes of violence against other occupants."
The City of Newcastle has confirmed SPL did not seek approval to run a boarding house at 88 Hanbury Street, Mayfield, a building now named 'Alma Mater', when it opened two months ago.
Corrective Services NSW said following recent concerning reports about the operating practices of SPL, it is "reviewing its suitability as a place of accommodation for parolees".
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has also confirmed it is investigating concerns raised about SPL but is "unable to comment further".
"Participants have the right to fair treatment, transparency, and quality services under the NDIS," a commission spokesperson said.
"The NDIS Commission strongly encourages participants, their families, and advocates to report any concerns regarding unethical provider behaviour."
INDUSTRY insiders say illegal boarding house operator Sanctuary Place Living is running homes that flout laws against restrictive practices involving people with disability and fall short of requirements for parolees.
While the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is continuing its investigation into SPL, Corrective Services NSW has announced it is also reviewing the organisation and its suitability to provide accommodation to parolees.
Sanctuary Place Living, or SPL, run by Michael Mason and his partner Jacqui Whiteford, lease properties throughout the Hunter which they sub-let to NDIS participants, parolees, and people on workers compensation, disability pensions and unemployment benefits.
Their occupancy agreements include rules against "unauthorised" guests entering their rentals, including disability support workers who in many cases are NDIS-funded to work with people in their homes.
To deny their entry is in breach of laws designed to ensure people with disability are treated with respect and dignity, and have choice and control over how, who and when their supports are delivered, disability service providers say.
"This is a restrictive practice, when they cannot access supports in the home, if they are funded to receive that," said one Hunter-based support coordinator.
Having worked with numerous people who live, or have lived, in SPL-managed homes, the woman said she was disgusted with the way the organisation treated some tenants.
"The fee structure, the agreement that leaves them with no rights ... they can be moved at any time of day, with a text message, from nobody, just signed SPL, and they have to pack up and they're moved," she said.
"They get no say in it, they are thrown together, there is no matching that takes place."
This week several residents were forced to move from an SPL-managed property at Rutherford to which police were called on Monday when SPL staff turned up unannounced, demanding access to the property to retrieve furniture.
The residents had been given less than one business day's notice that they were being relocated.
The week before that, SPL moved 20 people out of homes in Elemore Vale. They were given five days notice but SPL staff turned up without notice with a removalist truck two days early, at 6am on a Monday (May 5), the Herald was told.
A number of other SPL-leased and managed properties have been vacated in the past two months.
Multiple property owners who have leased houses to SPL have said the organisation was regularly behind on rent and bills, and did not cooperate with reasonable requests to conduct routine house inspections.
In contrast, SPL demands the right to carry out inspections at will, whether or not people are at home, including opening fridges and cupboards and going through personal belongings, sources say.
"They just come in whenever they want to, whenever they wish," said one community support worker who did not wish to be named to protect her clients' identities.
"They don't give them any warning. They turn their cars off and, when they get to the start of the driveway, they roll it down silently to sneak up on these people and give them no warning.
"And they open the doors really quietly and go through their bedrooms. It doesn't matter if they're in there, it doesn't matter what they're doing. They let themselves in and they go through all their stuff."
Some residents have had bedbugs in the mattresses they are provided with but are too scared to speak up for fear of being evicted or sent to the Alma Mater, she said.
"Because that's what they've done to other residents living in their other homes that have had bedbugs," she said.
"And at the Alma Mater .... the rooms are smaller than a jail cell.
"We hear that they're being investigated .... Yet, these vulnerable people are still being taken advantage of. And no one's standing up for them. How can we stay silent?"
In some houses where people pay between $335 and $370 or more per week for a room, some with an ensuite, SPL is set to make double the rent they are paying to property owners through their sub-lease arrangements, as well as in some cases also claiming a portion of tenants' NDIS-funded supports.
In a statement to the Newcastle Herald, SPL said it did not engage in any unlawful restrictive practices. It denied it was running an illegal boarding house at Mayfield, the Alma Mater, and it denied robbing residents of rights under the Residential Tenancy Act.
"Moreover, where appropriate, the circumstances of SPL's tenancy agreements have been determined by the NSW Civil Administrative Tribunal to not constitute residential tenancy agreements," the statement said.
"Moreover, no parolee has been moved from any residence without sufficient notice except in extreme circumstances where serious crimes have been committed or threatened, such as episodes of violence against other occupants."
The City of Newcastle has confirmed SPL did not seek approval to run a boarding house at 88 Hanbury Street, Mayfield, a building now named 'Alma Mater', when it opened two months ago.
Corrective Services NSW said following recent concerning reports about the operating practices of SPL, it is "reviewing its suitability as a place of accommodation for parolees".
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has also confirmed it is investigating concerns raised about SPL but is "unable to comment further".
"Participants have the right to fair treatment, transparency, and quality services under the NDIS," a commission spokesperson said.
"The NDIS Commission strongly encourages participants, their families, and advocates to report any concerns regarding unethical provider behaviour."
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- West Australian
World Gold Council working to lure artisanal miners across globe away from ‘illicit actors'
The World Gold Council estimates up to 20 per cent of the world's supply of the precious metal is produced by 'artisanal' miners whose activities are vulnerable to exploitation from 'illicit actors' such as terrorists and mercenary organisations like the notorious Wagner Group. During his visit to Kalgoorlie-Boulder this week, the council's chief strategy officer Terry Heymann said the London-headquartered organisation wanted to bring these small-scale miners into the formal gold supply chain and make them less likely to work with 'informal and illicit markets'. Artisanal and small-scale mining involves individuals usually working by themselves and mainly by hand or with some mechanical or industrial tools. 'This is very different from the large-scale professional mines . . . (it's) not really happening in Australia, it's much more of an issue in other parts of the world, but it's an issue that we care about deeply and we're doing a lot of work in how to support responsible artisanal and small-scale gold mining,' Mr Heymann said. 'A number of my colleagues this week are in Ghana, where the Ashanti King is actually convening a conference to address this issue, which is how do we support access to the formal markets for small-scale and artisanal gold mining? 'Why is that important? 'Because if they don't have access to the formal markets, they go to the informal and illicit markets. 'And that's a real challenge for the gold industry, one that we're actively involved in and doing a lot of work on.' Mr Heymann said a report it held in partnership with former British deputy prime minister Dominic Raab highlighted the dangerous nature of these 'illicit actors'. '(Mr Raab's) findings, unfortunately, are really stark . . . without access to the formal market, these illicit, informal and sometimes illegal miners are forced to work with illicit actors, and that then gets into supplying gold funding for terrorist groups, mercenaries, with the Wagner Group as an example.' The Wagner Group is a Russian-based private military company which has been involved in conflicts across the globe, including the current war in Ukraine. Notoriously, in June 2023 the group's then-leader Yevgeny Prigozhin launched an 'armed mutiny' against the Russian military — but it ended before the Wagner Group's planned march on Moscow. Mr Prigozhin died in a plane crash in Russia in August 2023. Mr Heymann said the issue was extremely important for the whole gold sector. 'It's a different part of the gold sector to where most of the people investing in gold are going to be getting their gold from,' he said. '(And) it's not something the industry can do by itself, and this is why we are calling on governments around the world, particularly those involved in the G20, who can really group together and make a difference on this to take action, to be part of this coalition of the willing to actually drive change. 'My boss, the CEO of the World Gold Council, was meeting with the secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development last week, who is Australian — Mattias Cormann — and he pledged OECD support to us. 'The OECD has been hugely involved in this, and I think it's that level of support we need — of the OECD, of national governments in Australia, in the US and Canada, big mining nations using their ability and their leverage to bring together different groups of people who can really address this issue.'
