I’m wondering exactly how the old boys network works - because it appears that it works. Peter van Onselen, Nick Coatesworth and Christian Porter in this picture. Nick talking on Friday about his Facebook convo with the DDA commissioner at the #DisabilityRoyalCommission hearing.

2/ I have zero issue with people leveraging their networks, but I do worry when we are talking about appointments by white and privileged men when there is no clear application and appointment process other than ‘appointed by minister’. ABC. Statutory appts. Boards, committees.

3/ I didn’t spot Chrispo in the picture because he looks significantly different in this picture and he’s now thin. But it’s him.

4/ I’m not suggesting that any of these men or people are not up to their jobs or aren’t doing a good job. That’s not what this tweet is about. I don’t have any evidence or knowledge of that, and I think the dda commish is doing a pretty decent job from all appearances.

5/ But - if we only choose like minded/people with similar backgrounds (because we know and trust them) to fill statutory roles in public office, other roles which need to address problems for people who ARENT white men in suits in professional roles - what does that look like?

6/ This isn’t a tweet about gendered roles or about diversity quotas or about personalities. It’s about making sure there is a diversity in people’s backgrounds and among our top policy makers and that they’re not all of one type or flavour of human. There’s a reason for that.

7/ The #DisabilityRoyalCommission heard last week that Health just kind of forgot about disability and left us out entirely from all the #covid planning, which focused solely on #agedcare, Despite the fact that older people die from Covid because, you know, disabled.

8/ I went to two funerals this week. Both close friends/family members. The fam one was Aboriginal and the friend one was biker flavoured. But both poor people. Disability, though, is unremarkable. Disability and sickness is often as a result of poverty and disadvantage.

9/ Sixty percent of Aboriginal people are disabled. We notice, all of us, when people come from poverty. They see us, include us, cos their dad was disabled, their mum was disabled, they grew up alongside or worked with disabled people. People with brain injuries, autistics.

10/ There’s a reason that the disabled people who are able to attract and retain high powered jobs are predominantly physically disabled people without communication or other impairments. Not their fault, but ableist bias informs this. They’re more like you than us.

11/ This isn’t a problem, except when you’re designing for the end user, it’s better to have at least some codesign by the end user - right? And the rarified halls of UWA just don’t contain people who, mostly, are like us. I did a guest lecture there early this year.

12/ I’m glad that we do have a disabled DDA commish. We would have been furious if that hadn’t happened. But I wonder still how we can make sure our leadership is not quite as white, male, able, allistic, cishet and lawyerish.

We need a vaccine for that lack of diversity.

13/ The ‘problem of the disabled’, the poor, the disadvantaged, is not going to go away in a post Covid environment. In fact, I’d propose that it’s going to be your burning issue, leaders. You’re going to need some specialist advice in order to make sure that you know what to do.

14/ And perhaps you could also work out how to broaden your old boys networks and find others in the world who you value, know, understand - who you realise hold the knowledge you’ll need to solve that complex policy problem.

As they keep saying, we’re all in this together.