Special schools for disabled ‘not heard from’ at royal commission hearing

The absence of anyone to support special schools for children with a disability is ‘troubling’, inquiry hears.

Kathryn McMillan SC called out the disability royal commission for failing to hear from anyone who could talk of their experience with a special school.

The absence of a single witness in support of special schools for children with a disability had been a “troubling” aspect of the disabil­ity royal commission’s hearing this week, the commission has heard.

Kathryn McMillan QC, representing the Queensland government, called out the commission for failing to hear from anyone who could talk of their experience with a special school during a week of testimony from expert education witnesses and parents of children with disabilities.

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“Can I say one thing that ­perhaps is troubling, if I can put it this way at this stage, is there really hasn’t been any other side of the debate … about special schools,” Ms McMillan told the com­missioners. “And it probably is not fair … not to have heard from … a special school principal.’’

Ms McMillan was responding to commission chairman Ronald Sackville QC, who asked the Queensland government to consider as a hypothetical the likely additional resources the state would require if it were to close all special schools and move to ­inclusive education for all students in mainstream schools within 15 years.

Mr Sackville assured Ms McMillan that he and his fellow commissioners were “here to consider all sides of the argument”.

“If there is a further submission or further evidence that you wish to adduce on the question of special education schools, then, of course, you will have that opportunity and that material will be taken into account,” he said.

The exchange came at the end of the first week of public hearings of the Royal Commission into ­Violence, Abuse, Neglect and ­Exploitation of People with ­Disability, during which it focused on education.

The commission heard evidence from Queensland Education Department official Deborah Dunstone that of the almost 561,000 students enrolled in Queensland public schools this year, more than 103,000 are identified as having a disability that requires funded support. Another 35,000 disabled ­students are enrolled at independent schools.

Counsel assisting the commission, Kerri Mellifont QC, said the evidence had “emphasised the critical ­importance of not devaluing a ­student with a disability, of not lowering the expectations of what that student can do or what that student can achieve”.

“It has highlighted the critical importance of the opening of the eyes of the Australian people to the profound and demonstrated benefits of equitable education for all students, and a genuinely inclusive culture, not just on paper but in the hearts and minds of our governments, our educators, and our community,” Ms Mellifont said.