2020-03-02
Saddened by the bushfires and the Federal Government’s response to them, and by the testimony coming from the Disability Royal Commission
By Senator Jordon Steele-John
Well, it was a tragic start to 2020 as bushfires raged across the country and many thousands of Australian’s New Year Eve hopes were devastated by the destruction of their homes and communities, and even the loss of life.
In the town of Mallacoota, in Victoria’s Eastern Gippsland region, we saw an entire community take shelter on the beach under a blood red sky as bushfires descended upon them. When the army was called in to evacuate them many – including disabled and older Australians – had to be left behind. Just this week in Parliament I’ve had a meeting with the head of the Australian Defence Force bushfire operations unit to discuss what is being done to ensure the safety of all Australians in future bushfire evacuation situations.
In our major cities on the East Coast there were days, sometimes weeks, at a time where air quality was at an all-time low; on several occasions in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra registering the lowest air quality anywhere on earth.
And tragically, over the summer to date, we’ve seen millions of hectares of native bushland destroyed and many millions of native animals killed, including fragile populations of koalas throughout New South Wales and more than half of the pristine wilderness that is Kangaroo Island.
It’s clear we’re living in a climate crisis and that the major parties have neither the policies, nor the political willingness to take the urgent action we need.
The Morrison government also has very little on their legislative agenda, meaning there has been very little of substance to debate throughout these first few weeks of Parliament this year!
In the last two weeks the Disability Royal Commission has been sitting in Sydney hearing evidence from intellectually and cognitively disabled people and their families about their experiences accessing the healthcare system. On Friday last week – the last day of the Sydney hearing – I was able to fly in from Canberra and hear some of the evidence firsthand.
One story that will always stick with me was told by Margot Elliffe who shared the story of taking her newborn daughter, Tara, to her doctor a few days after giving birth only to be asked why she hadn’t terminated the pregnancy.
Disabled people themselves gave detailed testimony outlining the abuse and neglect which is so common throughout our healthcare system, including one woman who withdrew her consent for electro-shock therapy and was subsequently subjected to the treatment a further 40 times.
New South Wales health were called to explain these horrific mistreatments and outline their plans to make sure they never happen again, and quite frankly their testimony showed that they had not taken the issue seriously or considered it in detail before showing up.
The so-called action plan outlined by the department doesn’t even aim to resolve these issues completely for another 10 years.
There is much more work for the Commission to do in this space and I am sadly certain that future hearings will uncover further abuses, however it is abundantly clear that the treatment of disabled people by our healthcare system is a crisis and a national shame that requires urgent action.
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Header photo: Jordon and Nas Campanella, a blind journalist who works for the ABC, after an interview in Sydney at the Disability Royal Commission.