JANUARY 2024
Disability Representative Organisations (DROs) have raised key issues and concerns in a joint submission on Australian Government’s response to the final report of the Royal Commission into Violence Abuse Neglect and Exploitation of people with Disability.
The Disability Royal Commission provided a critical, once in a lifetime opportunity for Australia to understand the context, impact and extent to which violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability occurred, and still occurs, in our society.
It is vital that the Australian Government place people with disability and their representative organisations at the centre of their response to the recommendations to make significant reform.
The submission has called for the establishment of a Disability Reform Implementation Council, led by people with disability and our organisations, to report directly to National Cabinet.
The government must allow sufficient time to make sure people with disability are heard and properly fund disability representative organisations to engage and lead on reforms from the Disability Royal Commission.
Many of our organisations work with significantly marginalised people with disability, including from population groups that have many barriers to having their voices heard. The Government must give us the time and capacity to engage with people with disability, particularly those with significant barriers to having their voices heard.
When the Disability Royal Commission’s report was published, many disability rights organisations came together to call on the Australian Government to work with us to design and enact the solutions needed to address the recommendations put forward by the Royal Commission. Our organisations call again on the Government to work with us and give us the leadership, engagement, time and resources we need to make reforms succeed.
You can read the full submission in either Word or PDF version below.