VMIAC acknowledges the resilience, strength, and mutual support within the disability community after the release of the final report to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. As a community, we can have feelings of hope, trauma, and loss arise in equal measure.
This inquiry may have brought up painful memories and feelings for some of us. Speaking to the injustices and harm we have and continue to experience required immense strength for those who participated – the energy required to participate also meant that many of us were unable to engage with the Commission in ways we had hoped or intended to.
Concerns raised at the Commission included the use of restrictive practices, restraint and coercive treatment within the NDIS – VMIAC have a clear position on restrictive practices and the use of seclusion. We view the use of restrictive practices as a breach of the right to liberty, bodily integrity, and freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. We stand by these principles and reject the use of seclusion and restraint in disability services and or services that are engaged with the NDIS. You can find our statement about the use of seclusion and restraint in the NDIS here.
We encourage the Victorian government to fully accept and implement the recommendations of the DRC – we anticipate a long period of implementation ahead to ensure these recommendations are authentically embedded alongside human rights principles.
VMIAC will continue to advocate on this issue with our partners and consumer allies and will publish further analysis of the recommendations and what they mean in practice for people with psychosocial disabilities in particular – please check our social media and website for DRC news as it comes to hand.
You can find the full reports on the Commission website via the above link or button below.
*Please ensure you take care if you read these reports as some content is highly distressing.**
For people who find them useful, you can contact the helplines below if this raises issues for you.
Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14
Qlife: 1800 184 527
13YARN (free, crisis support chat for Indigenous Australians): 13 92 76