Mr. Joe McGrath:

The Senator referred to something I said in my speech. The law causes trouble for people with disabilities who do not have good supports in their lives. If people do not have good support in their lives they will not trust the people who will be appointed by the judge or by whoever else because they have been let down in the past. They could be sent to court then and most basic decisions will be made for them because they do not have good supports. People who live in institutions their whole lives and who do not have their families around them are most at risk.

I am also worried about families, especially older family members, who are used to the old way of making decisions on behalf of disabled persons in their lives. We know they care about the people and love them but what family members want and what disabled people want are not always the same thing. Our right to make our own decisions must be protected. I am also worried that family carers are asking to make restraint legal but we want the law to say people with disabilities should not be restrained.

We have seen people abused in institutions and at home because restraints are an everyday occurrence. Safeguards can be in place without restraints. No one should be allowed to use restraints in this way. We are going back to the old days when people were put into straitjackets for basic things and judges made bad decisions in the older days when the Lunacy Act was in force.