At hearings the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability will hear from people identified by Counsel Assisting to appear as a witness and give evidence. People who are expected to appear as witnesses will be contacted by the Royal Commission in advance of the relevant hearing.
The Disability Royal Commission will publish details of hearings on this page to assist parties, witnesses and members of the public.
Upcoming hearings
The Royal Commission will hold its first public hearing at which evidence will be taken, in Townsville from Monday 4 November to Thursday 7 November 2019. The subject of the hearing is education, which includes the following topics:
Inclusiveness in education as it relates to students with disability; and
The implementation of existing policies and procedures relating to inclusive education of students with disability, with a focus on the Queensland government education system.
The Royal Commission intends to call witnesses to give evidence of their experience of the education system from their specific position, including, for example, parents and carers of students with disability, advocates, and individuals with professional experience in the education system and experts.
Commissioners set to appear at the Townsville hearing are:
the Chair
The Hon Roslyn Atkinson AO
Ms Andrea Mason OAM
Dr Rhonda Galbally AC
Leave to appear with respect to the Townsville hearing
The Royal Commission may grant leave to appear to a person(s) or organisation(s) to participate in a public hearing.
If you believe you have a direct or substantial interest in the subject matter of this hearing, you are invited to apply in writing for leave to appear by Monday, 28 October 2019, 5:00pm (AEDT).
To apply for leave to appear at the public hearing:
Fill out the form ‘Application for Leave to Appear at a Hearing of the Royal Commission’
Include a brief summary of your direct or substantial interest in the hearing (see paragraph 7 of Practice Guideline 4 – Conduct of Hearings for examples), and
Forward your form and the brief summary to the Royal Commission to DRCSolicitor@royalcommission.gov.au by Monday, 28 October 2019, 5:00pm (AEDT).
If you are unable or do not wish to apply in writing, or if you need assistance with your application to appear, please contact us on 1800 517 199 or +61 7 3734 1900 (between 9:00am-5:00pm (Australian Eastern Daylight Time [AEDT], Monday-Friday (excluding national public holidays).
To use the National Relay Service to contact us, phone 133 677.
Any application for leave to appear will be determined in accordance with Practice Guideline 4 – Conduct of Hearings, published by the Royal Commission.
Event information
Townsville Hearing
Date: Monday, 4 November 2019 – to Thursday 7 November, 2019.
Location: Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre, Townsville QLD 4810
The Townsville hearing will be livestreamed on the Royal Commission website.
Support
The Royal Commission is committed to being accessible to all. It will adopt the principles of trauma-informed engagement to assist in recognising and understanding the effects of all types of trauma and to avoid re-traumatisation.
There are a number of Australian Government-funded services available to assist those requiring support during the Royal Commission. These services are provided through agencies external to the Royal Commission.