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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-07-21 Daily Xml
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DISABILITY (MANDATORY REPORTING) BILL

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (17:29): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to provide for the protection of persons with a disability; and for other purposes. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (17:30): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I will try to keep my comments brief as, in essence, this bill is pretty simple: it stands to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens which, to me, seems like a pretty simple concept. As members will see, it seeks to protect people who are unable, or are likely to be unable, to even recognise abuse and neglect toward them, such as people with intellectual disabilities or people whose physical disabilities are such that they are unable, or likely to be unable, to report abuse and neglect. That seems a pretty simple idea to me, and I would like to elaborate on that by explaining how the inspiration, if you like, for this bill came about.

A few weeks ago I attended a Productivity Commission hearing which was inquiring into disability services. While there, I heard the parent of an adult child with an intellectual disability speak about her daughter's experiences while living in institutional residences for people with disabilities. I believe that this young woman had lived most of her life in such institutions and, while she was there, she suffered more abuse and more neglect than, frankly, her mother cared to know about. I believe the mother's exact words were, 'I'll never know exactly how much abuse my daughter suffered during her time in institutions and, frankly, I don't want to know.' Mr President, I think that speaks for itself, as I am sure you will agree.

I am not suggesting for a moment that, the minute we put people with disabilities into supported residential facilities or institutions, they are going to be abused or neglected, but we do need to recognise that people with both physical and intellectual disabilities are at higher risk. In fact, research shows that people with intellectual disabilities in particular are four to 10 times at higher risk of being victimised than people without disabilities.

This bill seeks to protect not only those people but also those who have the courage, under this bill if it should become an act, to report abuse and neglect. Why should it be a punishable offence or something that is feared to report the abuse and neglect of some of our most vulnerable people? Why should people feel afraid or feel that they are to be punished for standing up for people who cannot stand up for themselves?

As I said, I am not suggesting for a moment that all people with disabilities are subject to this treatment but we do need to recognise that there is a much higher risk of it happening. Article 17 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities states that every person with a disability—that is, every person—has the right to integrity, both physical and emotional, on an equal basis with all others. The trouble with the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities is that it does not have any teeth, if you like. It is more of a philosophical document and, while it says some wonderful things, until we have a complete overhaul of the entire disability services system it will not actually stand for much. I think that is a pretty sad fact because all people, with or without disabilities, should have integrity and should have the right to protection.

It is also important to note that this bill does not stand to provide mandatory reporting to people whose disabilities would not prevent them from recognising or reporting their own abuse—I suppose people like myself. So, it does not take away from the privacy or dignity or choice of these people but it does, in fact, protect the dignity of people who cannot report abuse and neglect themselves.

I am aware that there will be some implications, particularly financially, if this bill should become an act but we do have a six-month lead-in, as you will see in the bill, to provide time for the training for all necessary people to become mandatory reporters for people with disabilities, and we do have several service providers onside to help us implement that training. So, it is out there and it does make sense.

As you are aware, we have similar provisions for children under the Children's Protection Act and for the elderly under the Aged Care Act federally. So, it just seems to make no sense to me and my party that people with disabilities can be completely underlooked—overlooked—well, both overlooked and underlooked in this sense. In fact, everyone we have spoken to in regard to this bill has said, 'I can't believe that this isn't already in place,' and our only possible response has been, 'Nor can we.' As I said, it just makes sense that, if we are going to protect children and the elderly on the understanding that they are some of our most vulnerable people, why would we not protect people with disabilities who are just as vulnerable, if not more so?

I think that any implications of this bill—particularly financial—coming into place would be far overridden by the emotional and physical cost of not having mandatory reporting in place for people with disabilities, not just for people with disabilities but also their families. Members would have heard that story I told about the parent of the child who lived in institutions and who now lives with the pain and regret every day of knowing that, in her mind, it is her fault that happened to her daughter because she allowed her to live in institutions.

It is also with great disappointment and even greater sadness that I point out to members that, if this bill should become an act, South Australia would in fact be the only state with specific disability mandatory reporting in place. As I said, it seems such an obvious thing that, again, I cannot believe this is true, but unfortunately it is.

On the positive side, however (as I do tend to be a 'the glass is half full' type of person), I hope that, if this bill were to be made law in this state, it would be only a matter of time until the rest of the states, I would hope, follow suit. All I can do is encourage members to consider this bill very seriously. It does a lot in five and a bit pages.

While I completely recognise that this is not a holistic solution to solving the problem of abuse and neglect of people with disabilities, any person with a disability who has ever felt vulnerable, or any parent or family carer of a person with a disability—such as the parent I talked about earlier—will tell you this is a damned sight better than nothing.

I hope that members will consider supporting this bill and making article 17 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities a reality for all people in this state.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. R.P. Wortley.

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