Dr Kay Wilson1
1Melbourne Law School, University Of Melbourne, , Australia
Biography:
Dr Kay Wilson is a lawyer and scholar specializing in mental health, disability and human rights law. She has a Bachelor of Arts and Laws and an Honours degree in psychology from Monash University and a PhD in law from the University of Melbourne.
Abstract:
Royal Commissions (‘RCs’) are considered the most prestigious, independent, and powerful form of Australian public inquiry. Between 2021 and 2023 Australia has had reports from three different RCs (two federal and one state) into Australian social care systems for Aged Care, Disability and Mental Health. These three RCs were massive once-in-a-generation inquiries which will likely set the agenda for law and policy reform in each sector for the foreseeable future. This paper provides a high level overview of each of the three RCs and what they tell us about the systemic failures in the mental health, disability and aged care systems in Australia and how each sector should be reformed. The RC’s are extensive and this paper cannot be comprehensive. Instead, it will be a select synthesis of some of the more cogent and interlinked themes which have emerged across reports: lack of choice and control (absence of consumer voice); negative social attitudes and discrimination; overuse of restrictive practices (eg. seclusion and restraint); difficulty accessing services and supports; an undertrained and underpaid workforce; problems with oversight and complaints processes; and chronic under-funding. The paper will consider the proposed reforms and argue that despite differences between sectors, there is a very similar vision for how such services ought to be delivered and what good aged care, mental health and disability systems look like, taking into account developments international human rights law. While the paper will be general, it will focus more on findings with implications for health and mental health law.