Disability advocates are backing a recently released Senate report into the treatment of people with disabilities that has called for a royal commission into the financial abuse of the elderly and mentally ill.

Key points: Senate report into the treatment of disabled people calls for a royal commission into the financial abuse of the elderly

Senate report into the treatment of disabled people calls for a royal commission into the financial abuse of the elderly Queensland Aged and Disability Advocacy says family members are often the perpetrators

Queensland Aged and Disability Advocacy says family members are often the perpetrators A royal commission is the first of 30 recommendations within the Senate report

The report revealed hundreds, if not thousands, of people were impacted by financial abuse every year, in some cases leaving the victims destitute.

In addition, most of the perpetrators were family members, according to the report.

The Queensland Aged and Disability Advocacy said the most common form of financial abuse was when perpetrators brought in a public trustee or power of attorney to gain access to the victim's finances.

John (not his real name) lives in a retirement village in Queensland, and despite having a mental disability, he said he has always taken care of his own finances and in the past had made smart investments.

However, he said his strong financial position was destroyed when his younger sister took control of his money by having his finances put under the control of the public trustee.

"She'd done it basically just to obtain all the money, and yet I'm somebody who can manage money, and she can't," he said.

John said his sister fraudulently obtained a doctor's letter stating John could not read and write, and therefore the public trustee needed to be brought in.

The move cost John hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He said he now finds it tough affording the basics of life, including the hundreds of dollars he needs to spend each week on his medicines.

"I need help, but I can't get help," he said.

"To me I just feel like it's not fair. They won't help me.

"I feel like nobody else can sort of help me, so I'm finding all that very hard at the moment."

'Relatives take advantage of elderly family members'

Chief executive of Queensland Aged and Disability Advocacy, Geoff Rowe, said it was hard to quantify the number of times situations similar to John's had occurred, as the incidents were occurring within the family.

"People choose, generally, someone that they know, someone that they trust, to be their power of attorney or their guardian," he said.

"They're the people that are most likely to have control of the purse strings."

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Mr Rowe said financial abuse often started with small amounts of money being taken and increased to people losing large assets such as houses.

"We're seeing more and more where the family home is being taken over by children of the individual for their own purpose, rather than the best interest of the adult person that they're supposed to be supporting."

Mr Rowe said he supports the Senate report calling for a royal commission.

"The broader Senate report came up with 30 recommendations, the royal commission being the first," he said.

"I think there's enough there that we can do a whole lot of things to make some very immediate impacts now, rather than putting things on hold while we look further at it."