So here’s our third amazing episode in series 3 of Streets of Your Town podcast! What a privilege for me to interview the youngest sitting member of Australia’s Federal parliament, Senator Jordon Steele-John for this episode.
Many people will remember this man crying as he told an almost empty Senate chamber two years ago, about the desperate need for a Disability Royal Commission to comprehensively investigate myriad examples of abuse against people with a disability.
Senator Jordon Steele-John wept as he read the names of 34 Australians with disabilities who had died from neglect and violence.
The Greens Senator from WA told the Senate he would not rest until they find the justice that is desperately owed to them.
“The ultimate goal is nothing more or less than the transformation of our society into one which is inclusive of all disabled people and which is liberated from the shackles, if you like, of ableism in our society,” Senator Steele-John tells me during his interview for my Streets of Your Town podcast.
“One where disabled people are free to pursue our lives and our aspirations on our terms. That is a future, a community I think that would be supported and embraced by the vast majority of people in our country.”
It was the Senator’s stirring words in parliament that finally captured the public’s attention and ended an almost decade long fight to bring the Commission into being.
But he is now concerned that the legislation supporting that investigation, is putting the viability of the entire Commission process at risk.
He tells me that he’s spoken to many whistleblowers, who are now put off from giving crucial evidence, because only private submissions have legal protection after the Commission finishes.
“The mechanism that is used to establish this, the Royal Commission Act of 1905, fails at the moment to extend the privacy provisions that exist for things like private hearings to all submission types,” he says.
“That’s so important, because private hearings are not available to everybody, they’re not appropriate for certain types of evidence.
“There are certain types of evidence where a private session doesn’t cut it.
“And so, what we’ve been arguing with the government, what we’ve been pushing the government to do is just to simply amend the Royal Commissions Act to extend those privacy protections and give people the peace of mind that speaking out won’t have any negative consequences upon them.
“It is currently preventing people from coming forward.
“If you’re telling your story to the Royal Commission, you have experienced not only violence, abuse, or neglect, but also systemic failure, systems that were meant to protect you have let you down, information has been covered up, organisations have acted wrongly. And so, it is totally understandable that people would want to make sure that their privacy was guaranteed before they told their story.”
Eight disability advocacy organisations have also written to Federal Attorney-General, Christian Porter asking for the legislative changes.
“I think people would be further shocked to know that the government has known about this since November of last year, and that the Royal Commission in its report of earlier this month made very clear that the absence of this legislative amendment is now acting as an impediment,” he says.
“They use that word explicitly, an impediment to their investigation.
“And yet, the government has failed to provide the needed legislation to correct this issue. It is really quite simple. It is just an extension of a privacy clause that currently exists for one type of session, one type of evidentiary session, to all types of evidentiary sessions that the Commission undertakes.
“It would pass in the blink of an eye. They could do it, the government could do it in the next budget sitting. It would have support of the entire chamber. And yet, the Attorney General has repeatedly failed sitting after sitting to make this amendment.”
He’s only 25, but age and disability have not stopped him from becoming the youngest sitting member in Australia’s Federal parliament and its youngest Senator.
“I don’t think the system ever really wanted young people or disabled people to be in Parliament, to be quite frank,” he says.
"I’ve used the opportunity at every moment to try to blast the hinges off the doors that do block us as young people and as disabled people from decision making spaces.”
While he’s not the first sitting member in parliament to use a manual wheelchair, he’s frustrated that the government is making only minimal changes to make Parliament House more accessible.
“This is the space where democracy lives and there’s a number of assumptions that were made about the type of people that would work in that space, and that would make those decisions,” the Senator says.
“I think it’s quite telling that many of the public spaces of Parliament House were made accessible at least for their time period, but none of the working areas of parliament were.
“I think that says a lot about where we are as a country in terms of what the presumption is of the role of disabled people in our society. One of the things that I hope to achieve in my time in the place is to shift those assumptions to a place where it's expected that young people and disabled people will be present in them.”
Behind the Scenes
Well thanks to you all my Wandering Journo subscribers for enabling today’s episode to come together with your generous sponsorship! My Covid-19 treat to myself was to buy a Rodecaster Pro home studio, and I have used it many times to tape the now necessary Zoom interviews that have come to dominate our Covid-19 times. But not to be daunted by equipment failure, when the Zoom link to the Senator didn’t work, we quickly diverted to recording the interview from his mobile phone onto the Rodecaster Pro, which handled the change in plans seamlessly. Hooray for technology. I’ll be glad to get out the door to do face to face interviews as soon as I can to bring you the best audio quality, but this is a pretty good backup.
Other podcasts I’m producing
It’s been another big month for The Wandering Journo!
As well as my Disability Royal Commission advocacy work I’ve been producing podcasts for the amazing Gender Equality Research Network (GERN) and Griffith University’s Remarkable Tales.
Here is a link to the latest episode of the GERN podcast—called The Gender Card. Jenny Gamble features in this—what a mighty fierce midwife and professor she is! Do not stand in her way of reforming maternity care!
The Gender Card Episode 12: Maternity care with Jenny Gamble
And this interview with Amy Kunrojpanya from Netflix about how this outback girl from Munduberra rose from a house without a television is now working for one of the biggest brands in the world.
Griffith’s Remarkable Tales Episode 48: Amy Kunrojpanya
Elsewhere in the Streets of Your Town
Year 12 formal time is upon us! And what a joy it is to bring joy to people! It was wonderful to take Alex and Kristan to their Year 12 formal in Mildred my cantankerous kombi. The kitchen sink doubled up beautifully as a great esky for pre-formal celebrations. It’s been a bugger of a year for all of us, but the year 12s have had it harder than most. But Covid can’t kill kindness! So much fun.
Recently, I had the opportunity to be a Queensland Council of Social Service panellist with Queensland Treasurer the Hon Cameron Dick. We took questions from the online audience at an event examining Queensland's Fiscal and Economic Review. (A few more pics on Facebook here!)
Upcoming
Big shout out to more continuing paid sponsors who renewed this month! I couldn’t do this podcast without your support. You’ll be getting a personal thank you in the mail soon too for all your positive vibes!
In this time of isolation and social distancing, I hope you can help make the world a smaller place as part of The Wandering Journo tribe and share this email and of course my Streets of Your Town podcast featuring Senator Steele-John with your friends.
And if you’re on Instagram, tag #streetsofyourtownpodcast and #thewanderingjourno to show me where you’re listening to the podcast!
Thanks for making this all possible!
Talk soon! And stay safe my beautiful Wandering Journo tribe!
Nance
Senator Jordon Steele-John on helping disabled people fight to be heard