‘Vision for an inclusive Australia’: Disability royal commission report released
After more than four years of public hearings, private sessions and written submissions, the disability royal commission’s final report has made 222 recommendations.
Commissioners generated their findings after hearing from roughly 10,000 Australians who shared stories of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.
“Our vision for an inclusive Australia envisages people with disability living free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation in a more inclusive society in which human rights are protected and respected,” the commissioners wrote.
“For people with disability in Australia today, this remains a vision rather than a reality.”
They revealed those with disabilities experience increased rates of violence, neglect and deprivation than those without disabilities and faced increased systemic barriers to education, employment and housing, excluding them from many aspects of Australian life.
Children with disabilities, in particular, face multifaceted issues such as exclusion from schooling environments.
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Key recommendations are:
- A Disability Rights Act set up by the federal government
- The act would give the right to non-discrimination and equal recognition before the law, as well as access to equitable health services and to live free from abuse and violence
- A new complaints mechanism for people with a disability
- Strengthening awareness and understanding of disability rights, as well as protections for people with disabilities in state and territory laws
- The disability discrimination act be strengthened, including making it unlawful to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate
- The government develop a national disability agreement to advance equality, inclusion and the rights of people with disabilities
- Federal, state and territory governments make changes to the Australian disability strategy
- A national disability commission be established, which would monitor and report on outcomes for people with disabilities across the country
- The commission be set up by mid-2025 and chaired by a person with a disability and made up of a small group of commissioners, as well as report every two years to federal parliament
- A new portfolio overseeing disability and carers policies within the government
- A review on guardianship and administration legislation in states and territories, including supported decision-making principles
- National standards for public advocates, public guardians and public trustees be updated
- Equal access to mainstream education and enrolment and prevent disciplining students by exclusion
- Commissioners split on whether special schools should be phased out, calling for no students to remain in special or segregated schools by the end of 2051
- Segregated employment to end by 2034
- Availability and supply and accessible housing for people with disability increased through the national construction code
- Commissioners split on phasing out group homes, with some calling for it to be wound down within 15 years
- Disability employment targets of seven per cent by 2025 and nine per cent by 2030 be set for the public service
- The federal government set up a scheme ensuring employees with a disability to be paid half the minimum wage, with a pathway to 100 per cent of the minimum wage by 2034
- The number of Auslan interpreters increased
- A ban on non-therapeutic sterilisation by the end of 2024
A statement from the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations said the report was a landmark for the Australian disability community.
“(The) work has revealed the deep impact of intersectional discrimination and institutional neglect and abuse,” they said on Friday.
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About one in five Australians – or 4.4 million people across the country – identify as having a disability according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Since the inquiry was established in April 2019, 32 hearings – including virtual proceedings during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic – have been held across the country.
The government also allocated almost $600 million to fund the disability royal commission and related support services over five years.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the federal government would take the findings seriously.
“We will work through this report in a diligent way and make a commitment to work with states and territories,” she said.
“We need a more inclusive society that does support the independence of people with disability and their right to live free from violence, neglect, abused and exploitation.”
-with AAP
