Wednesday, 31 July 2024

Ministers statements: Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:08): I rise to update the house on the government response to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. Today the Australian government and state and territory governments released a joint response to the royal commission. Victoria has worked in partnership with the Australian government and other states and territories to develop responses to the 85 shared recommendations of the commission. All governments have committed to working closely together to implement ongoing reform to achieve meaningful and lasting change for people with disability. I would like to acknowledge the strength, the courage and the resilience of the almost 10,000 people with disability who engaged with the royal commission over 4½ years.

The Victorian government has carefully considered the recommendations in the commission’s report. We have accepted or accepted in principle the majority of the 45 recommendations that are the sole responsibility of state and territory governments, and I am pleased to report that the royal commission noted that Victoria is leading the nation in areas of disability inclusion, including the protection of rights of people living in specialist disability accommodation, recent changes to Victoria’s guardianship system and our government’s commitment to co-design.

We know the advice and support of people with lived experience is essential for us to achieve better policy, legislation and service responses for people with disability, both nationally and here in Victoria. On that note I would like to thank the Victorian Disability Advisory Council for sharing their views on the disability royal commission recommendations with me, and I look forward to continuing to work with them in the next phase of these reforms.

Our response builds on work we are already doing, including Inclusive Victoria, our state disability plan. It is helping us build a safer, fairer and more accessible Victoria. The release of the Victorian government response to the disability royal commission today represents the beginning of the next phase of our work, alongside people with disability and the sector, to implement the recommendations. I encourage Victorians to look at our government’s full response on the website, and I look forward to continuing this important work in partnership with the Australian, state and territory governments and of course with the disability community in our state.