Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

People say you don't need to have a royal commission—I'll take that interjection from the current Leader of Government Business. A royal commission can exercise coercive power to compel the production of documents. It can compel people to appear and answer questions. It conducts its hearings in public. It can record witnesses' predictions that may not otherwise be available in court proceedings. It is fiercely independent. I know there have been many inquiries into this issue of protecting vulnerable people, but all of these inquiries don't seem to stop the problem. They don't seem to have worked to stop the abuse. We need to have fierce independence in a hearing. We need to have public hearings. We need to have the findings of a royal commission, which are taken more seriously than any other by governments and by the public. Only a royal commission can provide the safe space for people with disabilities.

The main recommendation of the 2015 Senate inquiry into violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability was a royal commission. I understand that today it may be easy for the government to say—well, not easy, but the government may say it—that disability shouldn't be the subject of partisanship. I agree that it shouldn't be the subject of partisanship, but it should not be subject to the tyranny of lowest common denominator. People with disability, as we speak, are subject to abuse and neglect. I don't expect that any Prime Minister or government can guarantee, right here and right now, the safety of people living with a disability in Australia. But if we can't guarantee the safety and the freedom from abuse and neglect of people with disability, why, for goodness sake, would we vote against a royal commission to protect Australians living with disability from abuse and neglect?

This is why standing orders should be suspended. If we are unsuccessful today, we will not give up until we are successful.

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