Expand Menu Close Menu
Telephone: 1800 677 342

Disability Royal Commission

3rd March 2021

The Disability Royal Commission has released a schedule of hearings in 2021.  You can view the schedule here.

Hearing from people with disability, families, support people, organisations and the broader community helps the Royal Commission understand the extent and the impact of violence, neglect, abuse and exploitation against people with disability. This will help us to make recommendations to prevent it from happening again.

Ways to share your experience

Icon of a woman next to a man each with a loudspeaker under text 'Speak up'

You can share your experience:

  • in writing, over the phone, in a video or audio recording by making a submission
  • in a private session with a Commissioner
  • in your preferred language – including Indigenous languages and Auslan. We will provide interpreters and translators.

Sharing your experiences with us will help the Commission:

  • understand the extent of the problem
  • learn more about the contexts in which abuse is more likely to occur
  • understand the impacts on people with disability, their families, support people and our community
  • gather information relevant to future investigations and research program.

View the information DSC shared with the commission

In late 2019 the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability held hearings in Melbourne. At these hearings the former Disability Services Commissioner Arthur Rogers provided a written statement and was questioned by the Commission. A Plain English summary of his statement is now available  here.

In 2020 we also developed a written submission for the Disability Royal Commission. To develop this submission we have drawn on what we have learnt throughout the years we have been operating. There are four big ideas that are covered in the report:

  1. There needs to be changes in how everyone thinks about people with disability.
  2. Disability service providers need to be better at providing different ways of supporting people and have trained staff who can provide safe and great homes and services.
  3. There needs to be somebody responsible for watching the disability workforce to make sure violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation does not happen. They need to listen and respond to complaints.
  4. All of the Australian community need to work together so people with disability have housing, health care, education, employment, and justice.

You can view a copy of our submission here:

We have also produced a summary of the long report written in Plain English for everyday people to understand. You can view a copy of this report here:

We look forward to the Disability Royal Commission recommendations and the necessary changes required to promote a more inclusive society that supports people with disability to be independent and live free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

 

Level 30, 570 Bourke Street,

Melbourne, Victoria, 3000 Australia

Call for enquiries or complaints - 1800 677 342

Email for enquiries or complaints - complaints@odsc.vic.gov.au