E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Topics: Disability Royal Commission initial response
RAF EPSTEIN, HOST: It really was a stupendously large Royal Commission, 5000 pages, $600 million. So, it was a real effort to work out. Okay, if we really want to shift the experience of people with a disability in this country, what happens? How do we do it? But there won't be a Minister for people with disabilities, there will be no department for people with a disability, there will be no Disability Rights Act. That is something all six of the Commissioners wanted. They are major recommendations. The Royal Commission also recommended phasing out segregation. There was a difference over special schools, but really it looked at phasing out things like special schools, group homes and segregated employment. Many people who advocated at that Commission are upset with the Government's response. Amanda Rishworth joins us. She is the Federal Minister for Social Services, one of the Ministers responsible for responding to the Royal Commission. Thanks so much for joining us.
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: Great to be with you.
RAF EPSTEIN: I'm sure you've heard the criticism. We had one of the Royal Commissioners on Drive last night saying you are kicking the can down the road. Are you?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, look, I understand the frustration of people that want to see action, but I don't accept the characterisation that we're just kicking the can down the road. And I have to say, this is not just a Royal Commission that the Commonwealth is responsible for responding to. There were letter patents to every single state and territory. And what the Commonwealth has done is worked across the Commonwealth, including 16 Ministers and Assistant Ministers, and with states and territories through eight different standing committees. And what we've done is, when it comes to the Commonwealth responsibility and ones where we have joint responsibility, we've either accepted or accepted in principle 130 of the 172 recommendations that are associated with…
RAF EPSTEIN: …[Interrupts] Doesn't that mischaracterise the Government's response?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: What do you mean?
RAF EPSTEIN: Well, if you accept things – so, I'm just echoing the criticisms that others have made, Minister – but if you accept things in principle but you don't enact them, that's precisely the problem for a lot of your critics.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Let me be clear about what “in principle” means. It means that we accept the policy intent and we're looking at how we implement it. A number of the in principle recommendations already have money attached to them, like the increased money in advocacy and things like our Disability Employment Services reform. So, this already has money in it, but we need to take the first step before we can say that we're going to roll it out exactly like the Royal Commission said. So, there are some implementation issues, but it doesn't mean we haven't accepted the intent and it does not mean we haven't started the work to implement it. So, I just think that's an important clarity piece to say that we are working, and we have also committed. I think this is a really important point. We've also committed to transparently reporting progress on all of those recommendations every six months.
RAF EPSTEIN: I think people that people just suck their teeth when they hear that. We do that with the Closing the Gap as well, it doesn't necessarily mean that we make improvements. Minister, can I just play you a little bit of what one of the Royal Commissioners said on this radio station yesterday. They are clearly unhappy. I don't know that all of them are, but the ones who are publicly speaking are. Rhonda Galbally was on our drive program with Ali Moore last night. She's one of the Commissioners. She says this is the result of the Federal Government's response. Here she is.
RHONDA GALBALLY, COMMISSIONER: We're condemning generations of children to being in segregated settings, so it's condemning them to a segregated and a dangerous life.
RAF EPSTEIN: What do you say about that, Minister?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, firstly, I think what Rhonda – and I'd like to thank Rhonda for the work that she did on the Royal Commission – I think she's responding to the inclusive education recommendation. There are a number of recommendations indicating more need for inclusive education and predominantly states and territories have responsibility. All levels of government have agreed there needs to be more work on inclusive education. The Education Ministers standing committee has responsibility for looking at what particularly I think she's referring to, which is the recommendation about phasing out special schools. Now, I need to be clear, the Commissioners were divided on that recommendation, but what I would say is the general point, which was associated with a number of other recommendations which said we need a more inclusive education system, was absolutely agreed to and that work will be progressed. As I say, Commonwealth doesn't run the school system or the registration, but all levels of government have committed to actually improving education through the Ministerial level, across the board, all states and territories. And that momentum wouldn't have been there, I don't think, if there hadn't been this Royal Commission.
RAF EPSTEIN: Why do you think so many of the people who spoke to the Commission and who've spoken in the media yesterday and this morning, why are they all not convinced by your arguments? I think what you're saying as a Government is, look, we get the intent of the report, of the Commission, we're acting on it. Most of the people who spoke to the Commission, who spoken to the media, they're not persuaded by what you've said.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: I understand that the Royal Commission was very long and very harrowing, and I understand that there's frustration from wanting to see change. I would draw people's attention to the fact that we haven't waited for the Final Report to make progress. Just one really important piece of legislation that goes to the heart of what the Royal Commission was about was safeguarding and protecting people with disability. We introduced and passed last year a Disability Inclusive Services Act. It had not been updated since 1986 and didn't have human rights and the Convention of Human Rights at its heart. So, I understand the frustration and wanting to see progress faster, but, you know, this has to be not just one Minister, one area. It's got to be across all of Government and indeed all of governments. And that does take time, but it is not, it shouldn't take away, I hope, from the message that we are committed to change, but we haven't been sitting on our hands. That piece of legislation was really fundamental to services the Commonwealth funds outside the NDIS, making sure there's safeguards in it, and we got that legislation through last year.
RAF EPSTEIN: Amanda Rishworth is with you. She's the Federal Minister for Social Services. There's a whole range of Ministers and governments that need to respond to the Royal Commission into disabilities that delivered their report ten months ago. It's taken the Federal Government some time to respond. It is a 5000…
AMANDA RISHWORTH: … [Interrupts] well, all governments.
RAF EPSTEIN: Yep, sure, sure. Yeah, absolutely. But it's 5000 pages…
AMANDA RISHWOTH: … [Interrupts] many were joint recommendations that we have had to work with states and territories to get common positions.
RAF EPSTEIN: Maybe if I just go to one recommendation. I think a lot of us don't understand unless we have a disability ourselves or people close to us living with a disability. But we understand that if you have a Minister for people with disabilities, like we get that, we understand, okay, governments have a priority. Governments centralise and coordinate what's going on. All the Commissioners wanted a Minister for people with disabilities. Why not do that?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: You've got two Ministers for disabilities. You've got myself as Minister for Social Services in Cabinet, and you've got Minister Shorten, who's Minister for the NDIS. But when we look at the whole-of-government response, if we look at in all the portfolios that this touches, it touches the Communications portfolio with accessible communications, it touches the Attorney-General portfolio with human rights…
RAF EPSTEIN: … [Interrupts] do you think you need a standard bearer in Cabinet?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, my job is to coordinate the response along with the Prime Minister. If we look at the Commonwealth task force, it is actually led by PM&C and the Department of Social Services. So, I think if we are going to get the systemic change that we need, it can't be a number of small programs that we hope will be directed…
RAF EPSTEIN: … [Interrupts] but that's what the Royal Commissioners wanted. They wanted systemic change. I mean, that's what a Disability Rights Act, isn't it? That's what a Minister is?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: No, I would disagree with that's what a Minister is. Systemic change is having every Minister focused on disability in their portfolio. And I draw your attention to how that impacts people. If you look at what the Minister for Transport has done, she's made sure that in the aviation green paper that accessible air transport and people with a disability is a key area of focus. That's what happens when you have disability as a focus in every portfolio. Yes. There needs someone to lead the charge. And for this Disability Royal Commission, it's my responsibility as Minister for Social Services. But unless we've got all Ministers that have an intersection with disability, we are not going to see the systemic change that is needed.
RAF EPSTEIN: I really appreciate you giving us your time this morning, Minister. It's a really important issue to a lot of people. Thanks a lot.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: No worries. Thank you.