Women and girls with disabilities deserve respect, equality, and safety.
The Disability Royal Commission was established in April 2019 and provided its final report to the Australian Government in September 2023. The report contained 222 recommendations.
The Royal Commission’s Final Report provided an important blueprint for reform, including in relation to preventing and responding to violence against women and children with disabilities. It included 222 recommendations and was clear about the enormity of the problem of violence against women and girls with disabilities.
Our Watch is aligned with our partner organisation Women with Disabilities Victoria, the Disability Discrimination Commissioner, and key disabled people’s organisations in expressing its disappointment with the response of Commonwealth and state and territory governments to the Disability Royal Commission Final Report released yesterday.
The response follows a four-and-a-half-year investigation that exposed the critical need for action on the exploitation, neglect, abuse, and violence faced by people with disabilities, particularly women and girls with disabilities.
Only 13 out of 222 recommendations have been fully accepted, leaving many recommendations unresolved across various levels of government.
Our Watch welcomes commitments to expand pathways to employment, improve accessible communications and review the Disability Discrimination Act.
However, there are still opportunities to consider and meaningfully implement relating to ensuring the safety of women and girls with disabilities. This includes developing an inclusive definition of family and domestic violence that recognises violence in institutions and by carers, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disabilities in particular, despite existing commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
Our Watch notes the responses by the Australian Human Rights Commission Disability Discrimination Commissioner and a joint statement by key disabled people’s organisations.
Investment in safety, particularly of women and girls with disabilities, must be prioritised to create lasting change.
Earlier this month, Our Watch and Women with Disabilities launched resources to centre the lived experience of women with disabilities. These accessible video, audio and static resources work alongside the national evidence-base Changing the Landscape framework to support practitioners, including governments, to support the prevention of violence against women and girls with disabilities.
Our Watch remains committed to working closely with governments, our partner Women with Disabilities Victoria, and the broader sector to support efforts that ensure the safety of women and girls with disabilities is prioritised.
Please contact media@ourwatch.org.au or call 0448 844 930.
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1800RESPECT is the national domestic, family, and sexual violence counselling, information and support service. If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, chat online via www.1800RESPECT.org.au, or text 0458 737 732. Men’s Referral Service: 1300 766 491
Access guides for reporting about violence against women and their children.
Our Watch is a national leader in Australia’s work to stop violence against women and their children before it starts. The organisation was created to drive nation-wide change in the practices, norms, and structures that lead to violence against women and children. Read more about Our Watch here.