Senator breaks down as he pleads for inquiry into disability care
Greens senator Jordon Steele-John listed the names and shocking ways people living with disabilities have died through abuse and neglect.
Among the victims, Senator Steele-John spoke of a seven-year-old girl with severe autism who was found dead of starvation and surrounded by faeces”. We have also recently seen shocking footage of an elderly resident in a nursing home being mistreated by someone who is supposed to be caring for him.
The ABC’s Four Corners program has detailed shocking revelations of neglect, abuse and misconduct in the aged care sector, with advocates for elderly Australians arguing they were not surprised by the harrowing stories shared in the program.
The West Australian senator has been campaigning for a royal commission into the sector, and has recently argued the Federal Government’s inquiry into aged care should be expanded to include the disability sector as well.
The need for a commission into the sector is well overdue. Community and social care services provide millions of hours across Australia caring for some of our most vulnerable, in a largely un-supervised and comparatively self regulated environments.
