The government has unveiled its much-anticipated reforms to strengthen privacy safeguards for witnesses at the disability royal commission, almost 18 months after the inquiry commenced.
Advocates have been calling for the changes to the Royal Commission Act for more than a year, warning that a loophole that allows the identity of witnesses to be released after the conclusion of the commission will stop potential whistleblowers from coming forward.
Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General, Amanda Stoker, introduced the Royal Commissions Amendment (Protection of Information) Bill in the Senate on Wednesday afternoon.
If passed, the amendments will allow certain witnesses who disclose instances of violence, abuse, neglect or exploitation to have their identity sealed indefinitely.
Currently witnesses are able to participate in private sessions and request confidentiality only for the duration of the inquiry.
Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John has long fought for a royal commission into the treatment of people with disability in Australia. Source: AAP
“It’s about time,” West Australian senator Jordon Steele-John, who lives with cerebral palsy, told SBS News in response to the bill. “After 18 months of campaigning for something that should have been done in the first days of the royal commission, it’s well about time.”
In October, Senator Steele-John introduced his own private senator’s bill to increase privacy protections at the commission, which passed the Senate last month before it was blocked in the House of Representatives.
He said it was a “very frightening thing” for whistleblowers to come forward to the inquiry, particularly when a person with disability was still receiving services from the people who may have abused them.
“And it is impossible for many people to do that if they think in four years time this is going to come out and become public,” he added.
A former auditor of supported residential facilities in South Australia, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told SBS News they had so far been unable to give evidence regarding the conditions they witnessed due to the risk of being identified in the future.
The person described conditions in one facility they assessed, which has since been shut down, as “reflective of some kind of 18th-century madhouse”.
“There were various coronial inquests attached to the facility that I could refer people to, but that doesn’t give you the feeling of someone who’s actually been there and seen it and smelt it,” they said.
“Those are the kinds of things you where you can only, as a witness, describe them if you’ve been in them. They live with you for the rest of your life.”
Asked whether they would consider giving evidence once the amendments were in place, the former auditor said: “oh, absolutely, not a hesitation at all.”
The chair of the commission, former federal court judge Ronald Sackville, first requested the government make the changes in February last year, in response to campaigning from disability advocates.
Last week, a commission spokesperson told SBS News they hoped extending confidentiality safeguards would “encourage further participation in the royal commission’s work from people with a disability, whose stories are at the heart of our inquiry”.
Concerns have previously been raised over the number of people with disability being called to give evidence at public hearings.
SBS News previously reported that only were people with lived experience of disability.
But Kerri Mellifont, the senior counsel assisting the commission, said this figure was likely to be an underestimate due to people opting not to disclose their disability.
Announcing the planned changes in October last year, Attorney-General Christian Porter - who is currently on medical leave - .
“We want people in the community to engage fully with the royal commission,” he said.
People With Disability Australia president Sam Connor told SBS News it was essential that the legislation was urgently reformed to "provide a safe space for disabled people, and especially those who are the most likely to be abused."
"We're hearing stories every single day. The disability royal commission hasn't meant [disability support] providers are changing their behaviour, there are still people being abused in disability service settings, they're still being made the targets of hate crimes, and they're still experiencing preventable deaths," she said.
"There's no evidence that simply having a royal commission in progress has caused any measurable outcome whatsoever in terms of lessening of abuse."
If the bill does not pass the Senate on Thursday, it will be delayed until both houses sit again in mid-May.
Ms Connor said it was unacceptable that the bill was introduced shortly before the end of the Senate sitting week and without public consultation.
"We need to get this right," she said. "We need to make sure it's right for the people who are most likely to be abused and the least likely to come forward."
Meanwhile, the government is yet to approve a request from Mr Sackville for a , first requested in October’s interim report.
If granted, the final report would be handed down on 29 September, 2023 - almost a year and a half after the original deadline.
A commission spokesperson said Mr Sackville had written to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Mr Porter in December last year, explaining the “urgency” of the request, but is yet to receive a decision.
A free national legal service has been established to assist people to share their story with the commission. The service, called , is independent of the inquiry and funded by Legal Aid.
People with disability who are impacted by violence, abuse, neglect or exploitation are also able to contact the on 1800 421 468 for counselling support or to be connected to a counsellor or advocate near you. Support is free, independent and confidential.
