Public hearing 29: The experience of violence against, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability from culturally and linguistically diverse communities

The Royal Commission’s twenty-ninth public hearing was held in Melbourne from 24 to 28 October 2022 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Convention Centre Place, South Wharf.

This hearing was conducted by the Honourable Ronald Sackville AO KC (Chair), Dr Rhonda Galbally AC, Ms Barbara Bennett PSM and Mr Alastair McEwin AM. This hearing was open to the public and livestreamed on our website.

Public hearing 29 focused on the experiences for people with disability from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) backgrounds, including people from the d/Deaf, Deafblind and hard of hearing community who identify as CaLD.

The Royal Commission heard from people with disability from CaLD communities about:

different cultural attitudes and understanding of disability
intersectionality^[1] and identity for people with disability from CaLD backgrounds
the language and other barriers experienced by CaLD people with disability when accessing and interacting with different systems and services in Australia
the importance of language acquisition and the impact of language deprivation experienced by the d/Deaf, Deafblind and hard of hearing community.

The Royal Commission heard from advocates and experts who are also lived and direct experience witnesses as well as peak representative bodies and organisations. The Royal Commission heard from Mr Chin Tan, Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner on initiatives to combat racism and strategies to promote inclusion of people from CaLD backgrounds.

Representatives from the Australian government gave evidence about participation in the National Disability Insurance Scheme and access to disability specific supports and services for migrants and people with disability from CaLD communities.

This hearing built on the evidence from the Royal Commission’s previous public hearings which have examined the multiple forms of discrimination and intersectional experiences of people with disability from CaLD backgrounds, and the exercise of choice and control for people with disability through communication and the provision of information in appropriate and accessible formats.

Anyone who believes they have a direct and substantial interest in the subject matter of this hearing, as outlined in Practice Guideline 6, is able to make an application for leave to appear by 4:00pm Friday, 14 October 2022.

^[1] The term ‘intersectionality’ refers to a way of understanding a person with disability’s unique experience of multi-layered and intersecting discrimination and disadvantage based on their personal characteristics. These characteristics can include age, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, intersex status, ethnic origin or race, including the particular situation of culturally and linguistically diverse people with disability.