Government won’t back away from insensitive appointments to the Disability Royal Commission … Stuart Robert and Ron Sackville in charge … Two senior counsel assisting the commission have withdrawn … Undercurrent of unhappiness … Disabled children and education … Stand by … Nathan Twibill reports
While it may seem that integrity would be inferred for an investigatory body of such standing, the “perceived” conflict of interest of two of the seven commissioners has prompted significant public controversy.
At the Brisbane sitting in September counsel assisting, Qld bar president Rebecca Treston QC, made reference to the 2016 ABS Personal Safety Survey, which found that one in 18 people with a disability had experienced sexual or physical violence in the previous 12 months.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission received 1,500 reports of serious incidents between July and December 2018, and revoked the registration of 316 NDIS service providers last year – 39 of which were due to code of conduct violations.
As Greens senator and disability advocate Jordon Steele-John has claimed, these numbers signal the presence of endemic issues in the sector.
The scale of the problem is not in doubt, yet important stakeholders and advocates are threatening to boycott the Sackville inquiry.
The appointments of Barbara Bennett and John Ryan have attracted condemnation from more than 50 organisations involved in the disability sector, not to mention the passing of a non-binding Senate motion calling for the government to replace them.
Ryan’s position is just questionable. He is a former Liberal member of the upper house of the NSW parliament and a former shadow minister for disabilities.
He was also the public servant at the NSW Department of Family and Community Services, in charge of closing down disability institutions and relocating residents from 2013.
According to the Greens’ senator, this connected him directly with everything that has happened in these centres from 2013 onwards. The head of People with Disability Australia, Matthew Bowden, described both commissioners as holding a “direct, strong, and unmanageable conflict of interest”.
These commissioners serve on an inquiry that is required to examine decisions and the implementation of policies for which they are directly responsible.
The government begs to differ. In April, the spokeswoman for Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher claimed that “any suggestion as to the validity of their appointment is without any foundation whatsoever”, making reference to the “significant contribution to their field” made by Bennett and Ryan.
More recently, the Minister for the NDIS, Stuart Robert, reaffirmed that they have “valuable contributions to make to the inquiry”.
Given Bennett’s and Ryan’s familiarity with existing administrative structures of disability care, perhaps their most valuable contribution would be as witnesses.
There have been other undercurrents affecting the Royal Commission. Two members of the Sydney bar, Michael Fordham SC and Chris Ronalds SC, have resigned as counsel assisting.
The commission tells us Fordham left in August and Ronalds in September. When asked why she left the royal commission, Ronald said she had “no comment”. Fordham has not returned our call for comment.
A spokesperson for the commission said:
“A number of highly experienced counsel have been appointed as counsel assisting the royal commission, including Dr Kerri Mellifont QC, who will lead the first hearing in Townsville from November 4-7, 2019 and Ms Kate Eastman SC, who will lead the second hearing in Melbourne in December.
Dr Mellifont was appointed to the royal commission ahead of its first public sitting … Dr Mellifont (Qld bar) and Ms Eastman (NSW bar) are supported by a number of experienced junior counsel.
Dr Mellifont and Ms Eastman have been working together effectively in preparation for the first hearing in Townsville.”
There have been a series of workshops in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin with educators and lawyers and meetings with representatives from First Nations Disability sector in Sydney and Darwin.
Since opening for submissions on July 29, 2019, 140 have been received.
Most recently, former Queensland judge Roslyn Atkinson was appointed a commissioner on September 13, joining Sackville, Bennett, Ryan, Professor Rhonda Galbally (“a career spanning many decades and positions at the highest levels”); Andrea Mason (who has worked in Indigenous affairs in the public and community sectors); and Alastair McEwin (a former Disability Discrimination Commissioner).
Sackville has a reputation as a feisty, no-nonsense sort of person. He can be effective, while some find him abrasive.
One of the contentious issues, which is likely to be pushed by some of the commissioners early in the process, is for a recommendation that separate education facilities and resources be established for disabled children. This flies in the face of the UN convention on the rights of the child and is contrary to long-standing accepted practice.