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“It could happen to you, it could happen to me, it can happen to anybody. I've seen it.” Advocate, Tasmania
On Monday, a Four Corners investigation will reveal the stories of Australians who say they’ve been virtually abducted by the state, stripped of their assets and stopped from speaking out, until now.
“They can use your personal funds, your life savings, to fight you, to keep you entrapped in this system.” Advocate, Victoria
Some 50,000 Australians are currently under the control of Public Guardian and Trustee agencies around the country. By law, these ‘clients’ are banned from speaking out about what happens to them, and journalists can be fined or jailed for reporting on them. Four Corners went to court to fight for the right to have their voices heard.
“They are evil. They’re terrible. They are heartless. They are thoughtless. And they're just money-hungry users.” Former Queensland Trustee ‘client’
Four Corners has uncovered astonishing cases where individuals say they are being held against their will and prevented from living in their own homes.
“I don't like being effectively locked up. I want to live in the real world where I can do the things that I have done, and would do, and will do, I’m very lonely here for that reason. I don't have anybody to talk to.” Trustee and Guardian ‘client’
And despite the Public Trustees’ express aim being to protect the health and finances of their ‘clients’, the investigation will reveal startling cases of financial mismanagement and fee gouging by these agencies around the country.
“The Public Trustee are the biggest perpetrators of financial abuse of elders. And this is actually legal, and this is part of the system. So, this to me is state sanctioned elder abuse.” Advocate, Queensland
This investigation, more than a year in the making, will expose how the system, designed to protect the vulnerable, does the very opposite.
“They're a law unto themselves, they're a power unto themselves. There needs to be some oversight into how their decisions are being made.” Daughter of a Public Trustee ‘client’, Western Australia