Monday, 13 April 2015

National inquiry into Violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability in institutional and residential settings

Media reports from the Perth public hearing of the Senate Affairs inquiry into Violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability in institutional and residential settings make for confronting reading - so we can only imagine the horror that some people with disability in Australia have lived on a daily basis.

From the Inquiry's web page:
On 11 February 2015, the Senate referred the following matter to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report
Violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability in institutional and residential settings, including the gender and age related dimensions, and the particular situation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability, and culturally and linguistically diverse people with disability.
Submissions should be received by 29 May 2015. On 25 March 2015, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 16 September 2015

Media reports on the first day of public hearings:


‘Voiceless’ disabled ‘raped, bitten, burned’ while in careRick Morton, The Australian, 11th April 2015
An inquiry into the abuse and ­neglect of people with disabilities has heard powerful testimony ­regarding the repeated rape of ­clients, physical and emotional stress and the fear of speaking out in a system where few are given voices ...

Disability abuse victims ‘have nowhere to go’
Rick Morton, The Australian, 10th April 2015
... The first public hearings in the federal Senate inquiry into violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability in institutional and residential settings will begin in Perth today and will hear stories so horrific they will match the royal commission into child sex abuse in scope, disability advocates say ...

'Harrowing stories' to come out of inquiry into disability abuse: Greens
Brendan Foster, WA Today, 10th April 2015
... Ms Siewert called for the Senate inquiry following a joint investigation between Fairfax Media and the ABC Four Corners program, which exposed the Victorian disability services organisation Yooralla, which continued to employ staff who had previous preyed on disabled clients.

Ms Siewert said the widespread abuse of disabled people in institutional and residential care had been ignored for too long ...
Steve Holland, Sydney Morning Herald, 10th April 2015
... the 'inquiry into violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability in institutional and residential settings' heard the abuse of disabled people is not limited to Victoria, with similar instances occurring across Australia ...

Added 14th April 2015:

Institutional culture fuels disability abuse, inquiry told
Rick Morton, The Australian, 14th April 2015
The abuse and neglect affecting the care of disabled people in Australia stems from the archaic institutions in which they were once housed, despite efforts by state and federal governments to close them, an inquiry has heard ...

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