Submission to the Department of Social Services 2024 review of Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031
6 September 2024
PWDA welcomed the opportunity to provide a submission in response to the review of Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031 (ADS).
As a member of the initial Steering Committee that developed the ADS with the Department of Social Services, and a member of the ongoing ADS Disability Representative Organisation (DRO) Implementation Forum, PWDA broadly agrees with the Strategy’s seven Outcome Areas and corresponding Policy Priorities for each Outcome Area.
Therefore, our submission focused on:
- Intersectionality and data improvement (Section 1), and
- The implementation mechanisms outlined in the Discussion Paper (Section 2).
This submission is also endorsed by the following organisations:
- Children and Young People with Disability Australia
- Disability Advocacy Network Australia
- Family Advocacy
- First Peoples Disability Network
- National Ethnic Disability Alliance
- Physical Disability Australia, and
- Women with Disabilities Australia.
Recommendations:
Recommendation 1 – The decision to exclude LGBTIQA+ in the 2026 Census be reversed in full, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics include all LGBTIQA+ Australians in the consultation and planning process for the 2026 Census.
Recommendation 2 – Assess which Policy Priorities also involve local government and when developing future versions of Targeted Action Plans (TAPs), ensure there are clear and relevant action/s for local government.
Recommendation 3 – Consider the resourcing, support and coordination needs of all local governments, especially in rural, regional and remote Australia, to support their capacity to achieve actions and improve consistency.
Recommendation 4 – Retain TAPs for all Outcome Areas, with each containing higher order level objectives and less prescriptive supporting actions. Where possible, the indicator should be contained in a TAPs objective/s, and all plans should be agreed to by all levels of government.
Recommendation 5 – Ensure the new Inclusive Homes and Communities Targeted Action Plan includes an action agreed to by all state and territory governments to commit to and implement fully the minimum accessibility standards contained in the National Construction Code.
Recommendation 6 – Ensure all communication modes and formats are accessible to all people with disability, and where relevant, amend relevant procurement policies and processes to facilitate the commissioning of community-driven and accepted providers that meet specific needs of intersectional groups.
Recommendation 7 – Reduce the number of indicators for each objective, by ensuring high order level objective/s and less prescriptive actions to support the objective/s.
Recommendation 8 – Publicly release accessible information on data sharing agreements between governments, and report on progress for emerging data sharing agreements. The publicly accessible information should also make it clear who is responsible for data, to improve the awareness of the data that organisations collect.
Recommendation 9 – Create a new process to support periodical information exchange between DROs funded by the Department’s Disability Representative Program and the ADS Council, to strengthen governance and improve the visibility of intersectional experiences who experience multiple forms of marginalisation, including but not limited to people with disability who are First Nations, culturally and linguistically diverse, women and gender diverse.
Recommendation 10 – Involve DROs in the design and implementation of the engagement plan, and where relevant, fund DROs to deliver elements of the engagement plan.