Labor has backed the disability sector and Greens over concerns about a possible conflict of interest
Tue 23 Jul 2019 19.00 BST
Last modified on Tue 23 Jul 2019 19.01 BST
Labor has joined the Greens in calling on the Coalition to stand down two commissioners appointed to the disability royal commission over concerns about their alleged conflict of interest.
In his first foray into the policy area since the 18 May election, the new shadow minister for the national disability insurance scheme, Bill Shorten, said that he supported the call from the disability sector for commissioners Barbara Bennett and John Ryan to be stood down because of a “recent, extensive and significant” conflict of interest.
“The call for these two people to go has echoed across the disability sector – and we support their view,” Shorten told Guardian Australia.
The Greens senator Jordon Steele-John has been lobbying the crossbench and Labor to join disability advocates in pressuring the government over the appointments, given they have both worked at senior levels of government departments that will be examined by the royal commission.
Steele-John said that he had alerted the prime minister’s office to the concerns of the sector, and accused the Coalition of ignoring the view of disabled Australians.
He said that he had raised the issue directly with Scott Morrison’s office, but had yet to receive a response.
“At the very moment when we thought justice was now within reach, they have made us fight again, and I can’t tell you how tired this community is of fighting politicians who think they know better.”
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The chief executive of People with Disability Australia, Matthew Bowden, said the role of the state and federal public service would be probed by the commission and this could see Ryan and Bennett’s position compromised.
“As people with disability, we must know that we can give evidence to the royal commission into violence against us safely, that we can tell our stories to those who do not hold unmanageable conflicts of interest,” Bowden said.
Ryan, who was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2018 for significant service to the NSW parliament and to public administration, was a senior public servant for the NSW Department of Family and Community Services and was involved with the oversight of residential care programs for people with disability in NSW.
Bennett was recently the deputy secretary of the families and communities branch of the Department of Social Services, and has been awarded a Public service medal for outstanding public service. She also has a quadriplegic mother and a daughter with multiple sclerosis.
The two were appointed as commissioners when the royal commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability was established on 4 April 2019. It will be chaired by Ronald Sackville QC.
A Coalition spokesman said the government stood by its appointments.
“The panel of six commissioners is representative of a diverse range of backgrounds, which includes lived experience of disability, judicial and policy experience, and Indigenous leadership,” he said.
“The two individuals in question have both been recognised for their significant contribution in their fields, as evidence by their receipt of the Public service medal and Member of the Order of Australia. Any suggestions as to the validity of their appointment is without any foundation whatsoever.”
But despite their credentials, the Disability Advocacy Network of Australia said there was “overwhelming” support from the sector for the two to stand down.
“We have been calling for this royal commission for many years and are concerned that this ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity for justice may be wasted if action is not taken,” the network’s chief executive, Mary Mallett, said.
About 60 disability organisations have signed a joint petition to the government to remove the two commissioners, calling for the Coalition to look to appoint some of “the many eminently qualified and skilled people with disability” who have the confidence of the disability community.
