Disability report a missed opportunity

The much-anticipated final report from the Disability Royal Commission has landed with a thud.

The aim of the commission was to trigger transformative change regarding the rights and treatment of people with disabilities, but its impact is still an open question.

After four and a half years of probing and an unprecedented $600 million spent – the most expensive royal commission in history – the pages are filled with the terrible accounts of violence, abuse, neglect, and exclusion that people with disabilities face daily.

But we knew this already.

In the disability support sector, there’s a quiet sense of dismay that the report did not provide a clearer roadmap forward.

The issues the final report highlights, like the appalling employment rate of people with disabilities, are not revelatory.

They are, however, challenges that require new solutions: solutions that should have been forged in the crucible of this half-a-decade-long inquiry.

Instead, the report often hesitates, opting for motherhood findings and recommendations rather than making specific actionable recommendations.

The NDIS Quality & Safeguarding Commission, predictably, came in for a beating and we’re seeing a reactionary spike in enforcement action.

Yet there’s a whiff of panic to this sudden burst of activity rather than a steady, strategic shift. Similarly, the nods towards better governance and incident management for providers make a lot of sense; but again, they lack the nitty-gritty details the sector is looking for to plan ahead.

This is to be contrasted with the recommendations of the Aged Care Royal Commission, which were often prescriptive (think 200 mandatory care minutes and 24-7 registered nurse requirements) and compelled swift and decisive action.

One can’t help wondering whether the significantly wider breadth of the Disability Royal Commission’s terms of reference and the number of commissioners (seven as compared to two for aged care) didn’t play a role in ‘vanillarising’ the ultimate findings and recommendations in the final report.

On key issues like segregated environments such as schools and group homes, the commission is split.

Moreover, the report’s lack of concrete recommendations around the potential separation of specialist disability accommodation providers and supported independent living providers, is unhelpful.

The worry for the disability support sector is that the report is a document that may well gather dust rather than spur action.

Providers operate in a complex environment where funding, regulations, and human needs intersect in often chaotic ways.

Without clear signals by government, strategic planning for providers becomes a game of guesswork, stymieing growth and innovation at a time when it is sorely needed.

Have governments at all levels (because they all have responsibilities here) been given a pass?

This fear is only exacerbated by the completely underwhelming response from media and the public after the initial release of the report.

Many are looking to the NDIS Review (about which I have written previously in Business News) for comfort.

This review promises a focus on ensuring the financial and operational sustainability of the NDIS.

The final report has been released to government but is yet to be published.

However, while there is no doubt it will have a profound impact on the NDIS, this impact will essentially be in the refining and restructuring of an existing system to make it more efficient and sustainable.

I doubt it will lead to significant changes in laws, policies, and public perceptions regarding the rights and treatment of people with disabilities.

At this stage, the signs that governments are committed to change are still positive, given the recent endorsement of the Implementation Report of Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031 and the Supported Employment Plan by Disability Reform Ministerial Council (representing federal, state and territory disability ministers).

However, the Disability Royal Commission’s final report could have served as the ‘burning platform’ for these initiatives, giving governments clear air and a mandate to make difficult decisions.

All the signs are that it has not, certainly not in the eyes of the public.

While it may be that these initiatives will still achieve transformative change without that platform, there would seem to be a missed opportunity here.

The impact of the much-anticipated final report from the Disability Royal Commission remains a matter of debate.

Despite the high hopes pinned on its findings, the report leaves us with more questions than answers, and all of us still pondering the future path of disability rights and support in Australia.

• Amber Crosthwaite is a commercial lawyer specialising in seniors living, aged care and disability