- Published:
- Tuesday, 9 November 2021 at 11:00 am
We’ve made recent submissions about improving inclusion for people with disabilities.
Our submission to the review into the Victorian Disability Act calls for the new Act to expand beyond disability services to the broader public sector, so that obligations to address discrimination and promote inclusion for people with disability extend across vital services.
In 2019–20, we provided assistance to over 88,000 clients and 25 per cent – over 22,000 people – disclosed having a disability or experiencing a mental health issue.
‘Through our staff, our clients and our lived experience experts with disability, we see the power, expertise and diversity of Victorians with disability’, said Executive Director of Civil Justice, Access and Equity, Rowan McRae. ‘We also see the way in which our laws, services and systems continue to fall short for people with disability and for the community,’ she said.
‘The lives and wellbeing of people with disability are affected by our housing, health, education, employment, justice and child protection systems. The vision and obligations in Victoria’s new Disability Act must extend beyond the disability services system and into these intersecting services,’ said Rowan.
We made 22 recommendations for the new act including:
- embed lived experience leadership and engagement
- recognise and promote cultural safety, cultural wellbeing and self-determination for First Nations people with disability. Address the systemic racism experienced by First Nations people with disability and its consequences, including over-representation in our criminal justice and child protection systems
- expand the coverage of the new Disability Act beyond disability services to the broader public sector, so that obligations to address discrimination and promote inclusion for people with disability extend across vital services of housing, health, education, child protection, family violence and justice (including police, courts and prisons)
- adopt a robust model of accountability based on the Gender Equality Act, including a new disability inclusion commissioner, to embed cultural change and drive compliance with the new Disability Act (noting that services need to be provided with education, support, resources and adequate time to support compliance)
- embed supported decision-making and implement it in practice
- create a new enforceable positive duty to consider, promote and take action to achieve inclusion for people with disability in Victoria
- commit to addressing the gaps between the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and mainstream services by introducing a service safety net.
Rowan said the interaction between the new Act and the NDIS should be carefully considered. ‘We see the serious consequences when the NDIS doesn’t work as intended, with some clients facing unwarranted periods in prison or other closed facilities, homelessness or family breakdown. A strong Disability Act in Victoria can further support the aims of the NDIS, to increase choice and control for people with disability,’ said Rowan.
‘This legislation is not a "gap filler" in a post-NDIS-transition landscape. It is a chance to re-set our expectations as a state and to create and implement legislation that recognises, promotes and protects the rights of people with disability and holds agencies accountable when they fall short,' she said.
Improving the NDIS, including through supported decision-making
We called for supported decision making to become a feature of the Disability Act and it was also the focus of a recent submission to the National Disability Insurance Agency. The submission draws on the expertise of our non-legal mental health advocacy service IMHA and demonstrates how supported decision-making could be effectively introduced into NDIS processes and policies.
We also worked with our colleagues at legal aid commissions throughout Australia to contribute to a National Legal Aid submission on the changes to the legislation and rules that are needed to improve the NDIS for participants and implement the recommendations of the Tune Review.
More information
Read Lead the Way: A Victorian Disability Act that promotes inclusion and equality, our submission to the Victorian Disability Act Review.
Read Realising choice and control through supported decision-making submission on the NDIS Support for Decision Making Consultation.
Read the National Legal Aid submission on Exposure Draft – National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Participant Service Guarantee and Other Measures) Bill 2021
Updated