The disability royal commission’s report has been described by advocates as a turning point towards a fully inclusive and de-segregated Australia.
But they’ve emphasised that while the recommendations are promising, they need to be followed through with and disabled people must be given space to lead that process.
Among the 222 recommendations put to governments are:
- Working towards a de-segregated workforce and education and housing systems
- Establishing a First Nations disability forum by March next year
- Setting up a disability rights act
Mixed emotions as report marks a turning point
During royal commission hearings, people with disability detailed horrifying experiences of assault, abuse and torture.
WA senator and Greens spokesperson for disability Jordon Steele-John, who played a key role in getting the royal commission established, said that must lead to change.
“The disability community has done our bit, now it’s time for federal and state governments to do theirs,” he said.
“The violence and abuse continue, the job for the government is just beginning, and the community are united in our call for urgent reform.”
Key peak bodies representing people with disabilities described the report as the start of a journey to an inclusive future, but said the pain many with disabilities had gone through must be recognised.
Among the groups which signed the joint statement were Australian Federation of Disability Organisations, Children and Young People with Disability Australia, Disability Advocacy Network Australia, First Peoples Disability Network, Inclusion Australia, National Ethnic Disability Alliance, People with Disability Australia and Women with Disabilities Australia.
“Today … we choose to hold space for our community’s trauma and grief, in the spirit of healing and restorative justice,” the statement reads.
“We want a future for people with disability that is led by people with disability.
“Nothing about us, without us.”
Damian Griffis, chief executive of the First Peoples Disability Network, paid tribute to those who had given evidence as well as those who could not.
“We need to remember all those Australians with disability and also First Nations people with disability who have died because of abuse and neglect,” he said.
“The royal commission has shone a light on some very dark places in Australia.”
Time line for First Nations forum will be key
Mr Griffis welcomed the commission’s recommendation that a First Nations disability forum be urgently established and said the creation of such a body was long overdue.
The forum would bring together First Nations people with disability, their peak body FPDN, Aboriginal community controlled health/community sectors and government.
The royal commission noted First Nations people with disabilities are uniquely marginalised in Australia and they face barriers to accessing supports including the National Disability Insurance scheme — something the commission described as “systemic neglect”.
Mr Griffis said the government must be held to account on the commission’s recommendation that the forum be established by March next year.
“The reason why that’s achievable from our point of view is because thinking has already been done for many, many years, at least 20 years, in terms of how we can address the human rights of First Nations people with disability,” he said.
That’s been backed by Senator Steele-John, who said the disability community could not wait any longer for change.
“We must ensure the experiences and expertise of First Nations people are centred as we work towards radical systemic transformation,” he said.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the federal government was still working through the recommendations.
“We hope that we will be able to provide a progress report early next year as we work through those recommendations,” she said on Friday.
Continuing segregation unacceptable
Many Australians with disability live, work and learn in segregated institutions where people are paid as little as $2 an hour and kept separate from the rest of the community.
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All commissioners agreed that must change, but were split on how to make that happen, including in the school system.
Three, including two commissioners with disabilities, said segregated schooling should be phased out by 2051.
The other three took a softer stance and said connections between so-called “special schools” and mainstream facilities should be strengthened.
President of People With Disability Australia Nicole Lee, who gave evidence at the royal commission, said such segregation must end.
“We want to define what segregation means on our terms for our community, not what other people define as a segregated environment,” she said.
Catherine McAlpine CEO of Inclusion Australia, which represents people with intellectual disabilities, said segregated schooling established long-term discrimination everywhere.
“It’s one of the reasons why people often have no people with intellectual disability or with other disability in their lives, and then are disinclined for a variety of reasons to strike up relationships with people with disability,” she said.
Ms McAlpine said governments need to act on school segregation by putting an end to it.
“It is disappointing that the commissioners didn’t take their lead from the commissioners with disability who have much closer connections with the disability community and understand these long-term ramifications,” she said.
Skye Kakoschke-Moore, a former senator who is now chief executive of Children and Young People with Disability Australia, agreed.
“We hear overwhelmingly from our community that segregation is not the way to go,” she said.
Ms Kakoschke-Moore called on governments to put an end to segregated schooling sooner than the three commissioners in favour of it recommended.
“Twenty-eight years will condemn another two generations of children into a system where segregation prevails and inclusion does not.”