Disability challenges highlighted

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth’s initial response to the behemoth 12-volume report of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, with its 222 recommendations, was the best option available to her. The report would be taken “very seriously”, Ms Rishworth said after its release on Friday. Inclusion for people with disabilities needed to be embedded across society, she said. She could not say more. The report lacks a unified blueprint for serious problems in the sector, a cohesive vision for what is possible, and concrete recommendations and timelines.

Despite four years of hearings and $600m spent, the unwieldy report is a let-down. It comes after an interim report in October 2020, and seven progress reports from December 2019 to March this year.

Unlike the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, it lacks focus and direction. The six commissioners are split on key issues such as the future of special schools and group housing. That will create confusion among policymakers and cause stagnation. Depending on the responses of the Albanese government and the states, the divisions will work to the detriment of disabled children, adults and their families and carers.

Three of the six commissioners recommended that special schools be phased out and that no new special schools or classrooms be built from 2025. No new enrolment of students with a disability in special schools should be accepted from 2032 and no students should remain in special schools by 2051, three commissioners said. According to them, such schools entrenched a lifetime of inequality in employment and housing. But commission chairman Ronald Sackville and two other commissioners disagreed. A fair education system could involve separating disabled students from the mainstream in some instances so long as parents were able to make informed choices. In practice, when many schools are struggling, as reflected in poor literacy and numeracy results in national testing, the ability of teachers and schools to do justice to the needs of disabled students, a specialised area of teaching, would need to be considered.

The six commissioners also were split on the issue of group homes, with four recommending that governments phase them out within 15 years and “increase supply of appropriate housing for disabled Australians”. The report says group homes, which generally accommodate four to six long-term residents with disability, can be isolating and prevent residents from participating in their local communities. They also can leave residents vulnerable to abuse. Other commissioners advocated a different approach, arguing “separate schools, accommodation or employment for people with disability should not necessarily be characterised as ‘segregated’ settings … they say the choices are not between wholly separated and wholly inclusive settings but are more nuanced”.

Judging by terrible experiences documented in the report, the sector is due for a shake-out. The commissioners want the federal, state and territory governments to each publish a written response by March 31 next year, a task made harder by the diametrically opposed views contained in the report. Cost-benefit analysis needs to be central to those responses.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme, which is costing taxpayers $35bn a year and has emerged as a major budgetary pressure point, also must be factored into policy planning. The government is aiming to curb its growth from 14 per cent to 8 per cent a year by 2026, which will be the focus of a review by its founding father, Bruce Bonyhady, and former public servant Lisa Paul. That report and the royal commission findings will need to be considered in tandem by governments.