Governments’ Disability Royal Commission responses don’t carry the decisiveness and urgency the disability community deserves

Disability advocacy agency JFA Purple Orange has today heard the disappointment of many people in the disability community after the Federal and State governments published their responses to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation of People with Disability (DRC).  

JFA Purple Orange CEO Robbi Williams said the governments’ responses fell well short of what the disability community expected, given the enormous effort people with disability, and the Commission, invested in the long and often arduous DRC process. 

“We have had four and a half long years of people with disability sharing the traumatic experiences of violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The DRC wrote 222 recommendations in their Final Report, and the governments of Australia have spent ten months deciding what they think about those recommendations,” Mr Williams said.  

“People were rightly expecting a bigger, more detailed announcement, of how the governments are building a roadmap away from the settings where violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation are more likely to happen, and towards genuine inclusion.”  

“Over many generations, Australia has built arrangements that segregate many disabled people from ordinary life; in housing, in education, in employment. It is through such segregation that disabled people have been most vulnerable to violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation. And these same arrangements are the opposite of a truly inclusive Australia. 

“There is a high number of recommendations that the governments have only agreed-in-principle, or are pending further consideration, or simply noted. These responses are unacceptable; they are manifestly insufficient, and do not reflect the weight of the issues for the disability community, who deserve a more urgent and determined response. 

“We know the issues can feel complex, but there has to be a real sense of urgency, decisive leadership, and whole-of-government accountability for weighty action. It is the only way we will see genuine movement away from harmful segregation and towards a truly inclusive Australia. 

“We call on the governments to update their responses to make a clearer and more impassioned commitment to decisiveness, urgency, and accountability for action, in support of true inclusion.”

Further information & interviews

Marissa Brown 
Leader, Marketing and Communications  
Julia Farr group (including JFA Purple Orange, inhousing, Stretchy Tech and JFM Fund) 
Tel: (08) 8373 8388
Email: media@juliafarr.org.au