Man on the run claimed relative was 'basically detained' in nursing home

The man, who legally cannot be identified, contacted A Current Affair to claim that his relative was not being well cared for at the home, and that the elderly man's finances were about to be plundered by the New South Wales government.

"I'm not a criminal, (he) has not been abducted by me," the man said.

"I have obviously put myself on the line and at risk, I don't see that I have broken the law."

He said his relative had asked for a "helping hand".

He claimed the elderly man had been "basically detained against his will".

Elderly rights advocate Doug Young said he believed government trustees and guardian offices were vultures.

"We have these entities that are supposed to be protecting the interests of vulnerable people, they are parasitic," he said.

"Their real function is to seize their estates. There's nothing much lower."

Mr Young said several thousand people were inducted into what he called the guardianship racket, every year.

Like the elderly man on the run with his younger relative, many have been diagnosed with dementia.

"He's also been telling me that they give him medication, but he does not want to be medicated, he's not sick, not ill," the unidentified man said.

"They put medication into his yoghurt, his soups, water even, and that's basically what I have been told by (him)."

After being on the road for 24 hours, he took his elderly relative to a hospital, concerned for his health.

There, police took the older man back to the nursing home, and issued an AVO to the younger one.

But the younger man claimed the NSW Trustee and Guardian was the entity breaking the law.

"They've negated the fact that my father-in-law is married, they've negated the fact that he doesn't want to be institutionalised," he said.

"His wishes have not only been ignored, they've been massacred."

State guardians and trustees can decide where people live, what medical treatment they receive, and how their money is spent.

People's assets can be sold off to pay for their care.

The service attracts big fees, as does the ongoing management of funds worth billions and billions of dollars.

Rosslyn's late mother Bernice was under the care of the Queensland Guardian and Public Trustee, which sold her house and put her in a nursing home.

Rosslyn claimed her mum's estate had been allegedly mismanaged by the Public Trustee, and that the standard of care in her mum's nursing home was poor.

Her attempts to get guardianship of her mother back through QCAT tribunals were torturous and fruitless.

"Everything is about money now, isn't it," she said.

"It's profits, not people."