Disability royal commission hands down final report with 222 recommendations for change

ABC NEWS (Australia)

After four and a half years of gruelling and at times shocking evidence, the disability royal commission has delivered 222 recommendations for change. The implications directly impact the 4.4 million Australians living with disability, setting out the steps needed to transform education, employment, health, justice and housing.

Transcript

00:00 It is a huge report. There is so much to sift through. But I think the first thing that

00:07 people were telling me yesterday was they feel like there's a lot to support in this

00:11 report. Obviously people have poured their hearts out, shared some of their darkest and

00:15 deepest sort of experiences over the last four years. And, you know, many of them in

00:20 the recommendations they've read so far feel like that they have been, you know, listened

00:25 to and that that is reflected in this report.

00:28 Now Naz, of course, it has been a lengthy process. There have been major findings. 222

00:35 recommendations. It is a lot to take in. Just, you know, bring us up to date with some of

00:40 the major findings and recommendations.

00:43 Of course. So some of the key ones are really around the human rights and maintaining human

00:48 rights of people with disabilities. So we're talking about recommendations including strengthening

00:52 the Disability Discrimination Act, including bits around vilification and humiliation of

00:58 people. There's also going to be the recommendation to introduce a Disability Rights Act to really

01:08 enshrine the human rights of people with disability. A complaints mechanism so that people can

01:14 obviously make those complaints and have recourse. That's something that lots of people talked

01:18 about at the Royal Commission. And also, you know, recommendations around a portfolio for

01:24 disability with a dedicated minister and a National Disability Commission as well.

01:30 There were six commissioners and they didn't always agree on everything. And we did see

01:34 some key issues where there was disagreement. I'm thinking specifically about education

01:39 and segregated schools, but also around group homes and disability enterprises. That disagreement,

01:44 what does it mean for those issues going forward and how the government will now think about

01:49 responding?

01:50 Yeah, look, I think the first thing I'd say in this regard is that the division with the

01:57 commissioners, I think reflects the division that we've had for decades in broader society

02:03 around disability, around the way that people with disability are, you know, perceived the

02:08 way our lives are perceived and looked at and, you know, in society valued and the contributions

02:15 that we make valued. I think there's just a broad perspective of the way, you know,

02:20 this whole scenario plays out for different people. With this regard, we're talking about

02:27 recommendations to phase out group homes in 15 years, phase out disability enterprises

02:34 in by 2034, and then special schools and segregated education by 2051. Now, just to put a bit

02:43 of context here for people, there's about 17,000 Australians living with disability,

02:49 many of them people with intellectual disability living in these group homes, then working

02:54 in these enterprises where people are paid sort of just over $2 an hour to do things

02:59 like packing, in industries like cleaning. There's about 20,000 people working in those,

03:05 and that's what they call the ADEs or the old sheltered workshops. And again, many of

03:11 those people, people with intellectual disability. And then we go to segregated schools and people

03:16 with intellectual disability are sort of represented significantly in that regard. I don't think

03:22 we can underestimate how much people with intellectual disability are impacted by these

03:26 segregated settings. And what I'd say is, there is a consensus that the status quo cannot

03:32 remain, that the way it is at the moment is just not working. But there's just different

03:37 approaches. So for some commissioners, it's about phasing out segregation altogether.

03:41 For others, it's just a softer approach, I guess, and people wanting things like when

03:46 it comes to education, stronger relationships between special education and mainstream.

03:50 - Naz, as you point out, there is such a lot to tackle here, and it's going to take quite

03:55 some time. The government's committed to a Commonwealth Disability Royal Commission Task

04:02 Force. Just take us through what that will mean and how that will help the process.

04:06 - Yeah, so this was announced yesterday by the Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth,

04:10 and it will be a task force that's worth $4.25 million over two years, and that will coordinate

04:16 the government's response. And really, that's all the detail we have at this point. It was

04:21 only announced yesterday, so it'll be interesting to sort of see how that happens. A progress

04:26 report will be given early next year, and that's really all the detail we have at the

04:30 moment. - This is a long process, Naz, as Miriam said.

04:34 It's been years of agitating by disability advocates to get this commission in the first

04:38 place. It took four and a half years. It was very comprehensive. Now we're looking at a

04:42 task force. Are people prepared to wait longer, given they've been waiting so long already

04:48 for something to change? - Look, what I'd say is they have no choice.

04:52 This is the way the response is going to be coordinated and handled with this task force.

04:58 What I'd say is that the disability community fought very hard for this Royal Commission

05:03 in the first place, and the community is the reason why this Royal Commission happened

05:10 in the first place. And so it sees the Royal Commission as belonging to the community,

05:14 this report belonging to the community as well, and they will no doubt be making lots

05:19 of noise about the response if it's not as they see fit.

05:24 - Now, Naz, it has been a long, hard battle, as you say there. How will accountability

05:31 be factored into the process as we move forward now? Because we're looking at a lot of structures,

05:36 a lot of processes to be put into place. How are we going to make sure that some of the

05:41 things that we heard about in that Royal Commission, very disturbing and distressing things, how

05:47 will we be able to look at that? Has that been considered here?

05:51 - Look, the community has been very open in the last four years, very brave. Advocates

05:57 talked yesterday about how it was a momentous day, but it was a day of mixed emotions. It

06:02 was pride and grief, because people have really shared their deepest and darkest things that

06:08 have happened to them that never should have happened. And so this community is one that

06:14 is not afraid to be open and honest, and that's how I think accountability will be brought

06:24 about here. It'll be by the community. And the community is the reason all this happened

06:29 in the first place in terms of the Royal Commission getting up and running in the four and a half

06:33 years. And they were responsible for the incredible body of work that has now been produced. And

06:39 they will ensure by speaking up in the way they already have to make sure that people

06:45 are held accountable to make sure these recommendations are put in place.

06:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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