Following some stalling on the issue in the House of Representatives last week, the Government allowed a motion calling for the establishment of a royal commission into disability abuse. Along with the motion, the Government pledged to consult the states and relevant stakeholders before announcing terms of reference.

The Prime Minister, the Hon Scott Morrison MP, said, ‘I take the issue of abuse and the neglect of people with a disability very seriously and so does the government’.

Given that the Government has limited jurisdiction over disability services since the establishment of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the inquiry would require states’ backing.

Senator Jordon Steele-John, an outspoken advocate for the establishment of the inquiry, said that the Prime Minister had ‘failed to say the one thing that we needed to hear from him, which was that he would pick up the phone to state and territory ministers and solicit their report’.

A copy of the motion can be found here.