Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the statement made by the Minister for Social Services here this morning. As the minister outlined, the establishment by the former coalition government of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability marked a significant milestone in addressing what has been a long-standing issue in this nation and one that has been recognised by many people in this chamber—that is, the issue of violence, neglect and exploitation of people with disabilities.

It's a matter of record that the royal commission's genesis was a direct response to the growing concerns of Australians about the treatment of some of the most vulnerable people in our community. The royal commission, as we envisaged it as a coalition government, set out to achieve a number of crucial objectives, including preventing and better protecting people with disabilities from experiencing harm; improving the processes for reporting and investigating incidents that fell short of the bar; and promoting a more inclusive society that ultimately supports individuals with disabilities to live independently and to be, overall, be free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

As I said, the royal commission was established by the coalition in April 2019 and began to accept public submissions from 30 June that same year. We put in place a comprehensive suite of measures to support the people affected by the royal commission and committed to providing counselling services and other support to people with disability in connection with their, at that time, impending participation in the royal commission. It was an acknowledgement by the then coalition government of the impact it would have on people when we were asking them to bring forward their stories and experiences and to help us to use those negative experiences to inform the royal commission. During this process the former coalition government also agreed to Commissioner Sackville's request to extend the royal commission, at that time, a further 17 months until September this year. This highlighted the enormity of the task and the sheer number of people who wanted to tell their story and inform the commission of its work.

In having commenced the royal commission, I say to the minister that we expect, and I have no reason to doubt, that the government will meaningfully, thoroughly and, importantly, in a timely manner respond to the royal commission's 222 recommendations. I know there's a lot here. I know there's a lot of work. But this has to be addressed as quickly as possible, and we will support the efforts of the government to quickly do that. We will wait to see the government's response to the more than 200 recommendations. We accept that they are complex. We reserve the right to disagree with either the recommendations themselves or the response of the government. But I will be informed by how we can support the government to act in a timely fashion, because I accept that, for those people participating in the royal commission since 2019, it has been an exhaustive process, albeit an important one, to get to where we are now. I have no reason to believe that it could have been done any faster. There's a lot there, but the government, in our view, needs to move as quickly as possible.

The commission clearly examined a wide range of behaviours that constitute violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation in a number of settings. That obviously includes physical assault, sexual assault, various forms of constraints, restrictive practices, forced treatments and interventions, harassment, and financial and economic abuse as well as significant violations, which came out in the evidence, of the privacy and overall dignity of people who absolutely deserve dignity, as does every other Australian. The disability royal commission didn't limit its inquiry to a specific range of settings but rather sought to understand it in all its contexts. This included schools, workplaces, jails and detention centres, secure disability and mental health facilities, group homes, boarding homes, family homes, hospitals and day programs.

By examining such a wide range of environments, the coalition's view is that the commission was able to provide to the government a comprehensive assessment of various challenges faced by people. Good people can take different interpretations of the evidence that has been presented and can disagree on the way forward, but we're confident everyone will be motivated by the lofty goals that underpinned the royal commission. As the minister outlined—and I will not repeat what the minister said in detail—we want to acknowledge and thank everybody who assisted with the royal commission. It was a long and winding road. There were nearly 8,000 submissions and nearly 18,000 phone inquiries. Issue papers were published, and there were nearly 2,000 private sessions held. So it's a huge, exhaustive set of recommendations. It was a testament to those involved.

I just reiterate that there's a huge amount to deal with here. Having had some experience, I can say that, for a minister in government, there are always things that come out of left field. There are always issues of the day that you have to address that can throw you off track, but we have to move as quickly as possible on this. And we will be, to the greatest extent possible, facilitating a swift response because every day we wait, everyday issues that have a meaningful and negative impact on Australians with a disability go unaddressed in the settings that have been looked at. I just reiterate that, in terms of the process that has been laid out by the minister and the government thus far in relation to examining and progressing these issues, many of which interact with state governments and their responsibilities, the opposition will be placing a premium on decisions and processes that can result in outcomes as soon as possible, and we will be very keen to facilitate those.

Finally, I reiterate my gratitude and thanks to everybody who told their story and who relived some element of trauma in their life. They should know that, by doing that, they will have prevented somebody in the future from suffering in a similar way.

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