DISABILITY ADVOCATE PRESSES PM

TASMANIAN disability advocates say lives will be lost if the Government does not act soon to establish a royal commission into the abuse and neglect of people with disabilities.

Launceston-based disability advocate Jane Wardlaw took the opportunity to push the cause with Prime Minister Scott Morrison during his visit to the city on Saturday.

The PM yesterday wrapped up his two-day trip to the state’s North and North-West with a visit to Burnie where he attended a naming ceremony for Toll Group’s new cargo ship, the Tasmanian Achiever II.

A TASMANIAN disability advocate says lives will be lost if the Government takes too long to begin a royal commission into systemic abuse and neglect of people living with a disability.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday said the Government would today support a Greens motion calling for the inquiry to be established, although the terms of reference and its time frame remain unclear.

Launceston-based disability advocate Jane Wardlaw said there was “no better time than today” to begin a disability royal commission, with the National Disability Insurance Scheme Quality and Safeguards Commission to roll out across the state on July 1.

Ms Wardlaw approached Mr Morrison at a Liberal Party event in Launceston on Saturday and urged him to support the inquiry.

“We need to start it as soon as possible because we've been waiting for too long, and until we start the change nothing is going to happen,” she said.

“If we wait any longer, people are going to die or they'll continue to experience significant abuse.

“I know people who have been sexually assaulted, young women with intellectual disabilities who are still facing significant family violence or sexual assault from predators who prey on them because of their intellectual disabilities.”

Mr Morrison said the Government would work with states, territories and the disability sector to frame the inquiry.

He criticised the Opposition for calling for the royal commission without proposing its own specific terms of reference.

“You've got to give your royal commissioner very clear guidelines about what you want to do, otherwise it is just a general conversation which runs the risk of not landing on any targeted recommendations you can act on.”

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten met families, advocates and victims of abuse in Melbourne at the weekend, where he said an inquiry was “tremendously overdue”.

The Prime Minister yesterday concluded his two-day visit at a naming ceremony in Burnie for Toll Group’s new cargo ship, the Tasmanian Achiever II.

The 210-metre vessel is the first of two new ships that will increase the freight company's Bass Strait cargo capacity.