She said people with disability are often excluded from reporting on their experiences and accessing other reporting mechanisms.

“The scale of the problem is large but it’s still probably a tip of the iceberg in terms of what people with disability actually experience,” she said. “What the survey doesn’t ask about is the types of violence that may be particular to people with disability.”

She said the PSS omitted types of violence “that may be particular to people with disability”,in addition to what others in the community face,including withholding medication,breaking assistive devices,keeping someone socially isolated and female reproductive coercion.

“There is not a specific set of data that we could call upon that’s going to tell us what is happening with people with disability,” Dr Sutherland said. “The data hampers efforts.”

Citing theMarch 4 Justice rallies,calling for an end to gendered violence,Dr Sutherland said more could be done “to elevate women with disability and their voices” but she believes there is a “sense of optimism that the national conversation about violence is changing”.

“There’s also optimism that there is a body,enshrined in legislation,whose job it is to uncover this and make recommendations for how to make things better,” she said,noting commissioners are “very much in the evidence gathering stages of the process” and have an “enormous job to do”.

The royal commission,established in April 2019,published its561-page interim report in October without any recommendations.

Chairman Ronald Sackville QC has asked Prime Minister Scott Morrison for a 17-month extension on thesubmission of the final report,to September 29,2023.