Additional Comments from the Australian Greens

1.1The Australian Greens want to thank all those in the disability community who contributed to the feedback on this bill, both throughout the initial government consultations and this inquiry. Your continued involvement has allowed for the voices of those with lived experiences to be heard.

1.2We welcome the repeal of the Disability Services Act 1986, which entrenched segregation and “fails to set out a vision for an inclusive Australian society.”[1] By stating that the objectives of this Act are to “provide funding, outside of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, to persons that provide supports and services for the benefit of people with disability, their families and carers” and to “advance the inclusion and social and economic participation of people with disability”, the government sets itself benchmarks of success in this legislation which it seriously fails to meet. This bill also fails to implement recommendations of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.

1.3The Australian Greens are disappointed and frustrated by these failures because we understand the effort expended by the disability community over decades to share clearly with the federal government the barriers to inclusion experienced by disabled people and the services and policy responses needed to break those barriers down.

1.4In their submissions, the disability community are clear that this Act is an opportunity to put into action Australia’s commitment to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This would include committing to timeframes for the end of segregated employment, segregated education and segregated housing. Additionally, it would include proactive steps to ensure the provision of services for disabled people over 65 who are not eligible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

1.5Additionally, there is the opportunity to tangibly and immediately improve the lives of disabled people including making reforms to the Disability Support Pension, ensuring the provision of equitable access to preventive and primary health care, and reforms to ensure national standardisation including a national assistance animal framework. Such reforms are all absent from this bill. We note that the only barrier to the inclusion of these mechanisms is political will.

1.6Again, the Australian Government is making decisions in this legislation about the disability community without listening to their calls for change. A joint submission was made by the following organisations which represent many disabled people:

Disability and Advocacy Network Australia

Blind Citizens Australia

Children and Young People with Disability Australia

Darwin Community Legal Centre, Deaf Australia

Deafblind Australia

Down Syndrome Australia

Family Advocacy

First Peoples Disability Network

Inclusion Australia

National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum

National Ethnic Disability Alliance

People with Disability Australia and Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion.

1.7To pass this bill without responding to their recommendations listed below reflects that the Australian Government is not truly engaging in codesign or giving disabled people a leading voice on the issues that affect them. Taken together, these recommendations would begin to break the cycle of segregation experienced by disabled people as outlined by the recommendations of the Disability Royal Commission.

1.8These long overdue legislative improvements are:

Embedding of UNCRPD

To realise the purpose of the Convention (Article 1) of “promot[ing], protect[ing] and ensur[ing] the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their human dignity.[2]

The Bill must also set the basis for realising the CRPD vision and associated Articles by codifying the rights, duties, positive obligations and enforcement mechanisms required to realise these rights. These changes should ensure that policies, programs and supports that affect people with disability are aligned with the CRPD at every level.[3]

Inclusion of UNDRIP & Closing the Gap National Agreement Priority Reforms

By applying the Closing the Gap approach to disability as a cross-cutting outcome through the Priority Reforms, the Bill can help ensure First Nations people with disability will have:

a greater say in how policies and programs are designed and delivered;

access to community-controlled services and sectors that deliver culturally safe, accessible and inclusive, and disability rights informed services;

access to mainstream organisations and services, such as NDIS services, hospitals, schools and government agencies, that are culturally safe, accessible and inclusive, and disability rights informed.[4]

Embedding Inclusion

The implementation of this Bill, and the associated delegated legislation, must be co- designed with people with disability, families, supporters and our organisations. We believe structured governance or advisory mechanisms will be useful in ensuring that people with disability are the majority voice in decision-making.[5]

Ending Segregation

The Bill/delegated legislation needs to expressly state it cannot authorise or endorse any employment supports or environments that segregate and isolate people with disability.

The Bill needs to expressly state it cannot authorise or endorse any education supports or environments that segregate and isolate people with disability.[6]

Code of Conduct

The Bill to include a Code of Conduct with a mechanism/regulatory body which monitors and enforces compliance of the code of conduct, to ensure accountability, transparency and a culture of compliance across providers. The code of conduct would be co-designed with disabled people and the regulatory body will include disabled people for oversight of the code of conduct.[7]

1.9Disappointingly, the Committee report recommends the passage of this bill without incorporating any of these recommendations. In doing so, the government has demonstrated that they are unwilling to ultimately reflect the recommendations made by disabled people in legislation passed by their government.

1.10The Australian Greens recognise that a new Disability Services Act has the opportunity to be transformational in ensuring that all services funded for disabled people are done so with a human rights approach and actively dismantle the barriers to inclusion experienced by disabled people. It is imperative that this opportunity to replace the Disability Services Act does not pass by without doing everything we can to end the cycle of segregation that too many disabled people find themselves trapped within.

1.11We implore the Australian Government to support significant amendments to this bill which are in line with the recommendations of the disability community.

Senator Jordon Steele-John

Australian Greens spokesperson for Disability Rights & Services

Senator Janet Rice

Deputy Chair

Footnotes

[1]Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA), Submission 7, p.5.

[2]Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA), Submission 7, p. 3.

[3]Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA), Submission 7, p. 3.

[4]Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA), Submission 7, p. 4.

[5]Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA), Submission 7, p. 5.

[6]Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA), Submission 7, p. 6.

[7]Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA), Submission 7, p. 5.