TRANSCRIPT:
WOMAN 1: "They had not effectively measured risk. So they felt there was a risk to him and the public if he continued to access the community. But nobody talked about the risk to him about being locked down for the rest of his life."
WOMAN 2: "We're begging for help, and we shouldn't have to be."
MAN: "I can't even go to the bank and like ask to withdraw money... You get given a card that State Trustees transfers money on a day that is predetermined and if it's a dollar or two out of your agreed spending range you have to get an invoice - and it takes two weeks. It's just - you can't do anything."
These three voices are among the 10,000 to have shared their experiences of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation to a Royal Commission exploring the lives of disabled Australians.
After four years, the Disability Royal Commission has come to a end with one final ceremonial sitting in Sydney, before its final report is released.
Chair Ronald Sackville says once the report is handed down, it will be up to others to move forward with the recommendations.
"I know that some people have expressed a desire that the Royal Commission should continue in existence to encourage and perhaps supervise the implementation of our recommendations - of which there will be many. But it's in the nature of a Royal Commission that once its final report has been presented, the Royal Commission's work, and its life, ends."
In Queensland, it appears that process has already begun.
In its final substantive hearings in May, the Commission heard evidence of two autistic brothers, then aged 17 and 19, being found in their Brisbane home in 2020, with their father deceased in another room.
Counsel assisting Kate Eastman said Queensland authorities were well aware that the boys - who had been diagnosed with multiple disabilities - were not being cared for.
"Our assessment from the information reveals Queensland, through its department and agencies, inappropriately focused on the efforts perceived to be made by the father and the circumstances of the father. There was no primacy given to the neglect, abuse and deprivation of rights that Kaleb and Jonathon were subjected to... The neglect of Kaleb and Jonathon was often attributed to their disability."
Queensland's government says it intends to make positive changes.
Child Safety and Disabilities Minister Craig Crawford has already pledged to increase training and resources for government employees, and consider compensation for the two brothers.
"This should never have happened and we're working to make sure that something like this never happens again... I'm pleased to advise the House that we have accepted, or accepted in principle, all five recommendations [from RC public report]."
The federal government also says it intends to improve the lives of disabled Australians.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has tabled legislation in Parliament to hold disability services providers outside of the NDIS to a code of conduct.
She says it will make it easier to fund support services that are outside of the scheme.
The Royal Commissioners say it's urgent and important for the government - and a range of institutions - to do better.
Commissioner Rhonda Galbally has highlighted education as a particular area of concern, speaking of the widespread and un-founded fear that the presence of disabled students would disturb and interfere with the learning of non-disabled classmates.
She says true inclusion is the only antidote.
"We have been told that what is needed to stop the prejudice is attitudinal change. Yet the research presented to the Commission shows that attitudinal change campaigns, with advertisements exhorting the community to include disabled people, that that's not enough - because the prejudice is too strong. As a Commissioner, I have learned that attitudes change when people with every kind and severity of disability are visible, present, and meaningfully participating with non-disabled children and adults on a day to day basis, in every setting in the community, starting with the earliest years."
The final report of the Disability Royal Commission is expected to be handed down on September 28.
Amanda Rishworth says they're going to take its recommendations seriously.
"The Royal Commission process itself has elevated some of the poor practices that were existing... There's already been situations where poor practices have been acknowledged and addressed. So I would say through this process [[of the Royal Commission]] progress has already been made... But of course... when the report is delivered to the government, we will have to take our time to work through that."
