Published: 08 August 2024
The Disability Royal Commission was a landmark moment in the lives of Australians living with disability. Emerge Australia believes the Australian Government’s response to the Disability Royal Commission does not go far enough to address the scale of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability, reflected in the Commission’s 222 recommendations.
In its response, the Federal Government fully accepted only 13 of the 172 recommendations under its primary or shared responsibility. A further 117 were accepted in principle.
Emerge Australia welcomes the commitment to reform the Disability Discrimination Act, and the in principle funding increase for advocacy organisations. However, there were important proposals that have not been accepted, deferred or not received a response, including the call for a disability rights act, creation of a Federal Disability Department and creation of a National Disability Commission. Stopping the violence and creating a more inclusive society depends on accepting such proposals, as well as appropriately funding their implementation.
Emerge Australia also supports the establishment of a Disability Reform Implementation Council, which must include representatives of all groups, including people living with invisible disabilities like ME/CFS.
In addition to our own submission on behalf of people living with ME/CFS, we know many in the ME/CFS community either spoke with the Commission or contributed to a submission. We commend the courage and energy investment that it took to do this. That contribution helped ensure that the experiences of people living with ME/CFS were visible in the final report.
We will continue to work our way through the government’s response and the implications for people living with invisible, energy-limiting conditions like ME/CFS and long COVID.
