Disability Royal Commission delivers final report
After years of exposing the shocking violence and abuse of people with disability, the Royal Commission has delivered its final report to the government. It's the culmination of work which saw thousands of people with disability and their families give evidence about their experiences of pain and trauma.
Transcript
00:00 Look, all six commissioners from the Disability Royal Commission travelled to Canberra and
00:06 they have handed this final report to the Governor-General today.
00:12 It is expected to be a lengthy report, multiple volumes, hundreds of recommendations are expected
00:18 and it is an extensive body of work that has been produced over the last four and a half
00:23 years as a result of this Royal Commission which has come about after huge amounts of
00:31 fighting and campaigning from the disability community itself.
00:35 This report is something they are eagerly awaiting.
00:38 I mean the next step in this particular process now that it has been handed to the Government
00:43 is for it to be tabled in Parliament which we are expecting to happen tomorrow and then
00:48 at that point it will be made public and there's no doubt everyone is very much looking towards
00:53 those recommendations and wanting to know what they are.
00:57 The Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth, has this week been talking about the response
01:05 that will be coming up and she has thanked the disability community for showing bravery
01:12 in sharing stories.
01:15 Without people sharing their stories, sometimes very difficult stories, we won't see change.
01:22 So I would like to say a very big thank you to all those that contributed to this Royal
01:27 Commission.
01:28 It clearly was a process once it started that went on for an extensive period of time.
01:36 The work is extensive and really for all those that have contributed and worked on this,
01:41 a big thank you.
01:43 The terms of reference which is the technical term for I guess the things that the Royal
01:46 Commission needed to investigate were quite wide, anything and everything from education,
01:52 employment and housing right through to the justice system and health and everything in
01:56 between.
01:57 So it is hoping that change will be brought about but there's also a little bit of concern
02:02 that the recommendations won't go far enough and it's very fair to say that the community
02:07 just wants to have a look at those recommendations and it knows that change won't happen overnight
02:13 but it desperately wants to see change implemented so that society can be more inclusive and
02:17 the violence and abuse against people with disability can finally come to an end.
02:21 [BLANK_AUDIO]