PWDA backs Human Rights Commission President’s call for national Human Rights Act
People with Disability Australia (PWDA), the national advocacy and representative organisation led by and for people with disability, has backed President of the Australian Human Rights Commission Hugh de Kretser’s call for a Human Rights Act, made in an address to the National Press Club. PWDA agrees with the observations made that without enforceable rights, people with disability will continue to be exposed to harm with limited pathways to challenge it.
PWDA said this is borne out in the daily experiences of people with disability, who are too often left to navigate discrimination and exclusion without clear or accessible ways to enforce their rights.
PWDA President Jeramy Hope said Australia’s current legal framework is not consistently protecting people with disability or providing accountability when things go wrong.
“Australia’s human rights framework has gaps, and people with disability are living with the consequences,” Mr Hope said.
“PWDA consistently hears from people who have experienced discrimination, exclusion or harm and are left without a clear, accessible way to have their rights upheld.”
Evidence provided to the Disability Royal Commission documented widespread experiences of violence, abuse, neglect and exclusion, and made clear that existing legal protections are not sufficient to prevent these harms or respond when they occur.
PWDA has also highlighted in its submissions on a Human Rights Act that the current system places the burden on individuals to pursue complaints through complex and often inaccessible processes, rather than requiring systems and institutions to proactively uphold rights.
PWDA Vice-President Jarrod Sandell-Hay said enforceable rights and clear safeguards are essential, particularly in systems where government decisions have a direct impact on people’s daily lives.
“We need systems that are designed to respect rights from the start, not ones where people are left to try to fix harm after it happens,” Mr Sandell-Hay said.
“When there are no clear safeguards or accessible pathways to challenge decisions, people are left exposed. Our patchwork of legal protections is simply not effective at addressing or preventing harm to our community.”
PWDA said the Commissioner’s reference to the harm caused by the Robodebt scheme highlights the risks of government service decision-making without strong human rights safeguards, including the right to a fair hearing and access to independent review.
These risks remain live in current NDIS reforms. In the context of the NDIS New Framework Planning, the Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing Mark Butler has not guaranteed human decision-making or access to independent appeal rights in all cases. That is how harm occurs in practice.
“Around 90 per cent of NDIS cases at the Administrative Review Tribunal are decided in favour of participants. That shows the system is getting decisions wrong, often. Without the right to independent review, people with disability will be left to deal with decisions they cannot challenge, including losing essential supports”, said Mr Sandell-Hay.
“A Human Rights Act would require governments to properly consider people’s rights when designing and implementing systems like NDIS New Framework Planning.”
PWDA also supports the Commissioner’s call for action on poverty, noting people with disability are disproportionately impacted by low incomes, barriers to employment and rising living costs.
New research from the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and UNSW shows almost nine in ten people agree income support should be enough so people do not have to skip meals, yet less than a quarter say they could live on current payments. At the same time, the Australian Government’s own Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has again made lifting income support its top recommendation, warning current payment rates leave people unable to meet basic living costs.
PWDA has called on the Federal Government to use the upcoming Budget to lift income support, reform the Disability Support Pension, invest in accessible housing, and provide employment programs and supports that create real opportunities for mainstream employment.
Mr Hope said a Human Rights Act would provide a clear, enforceable framework to guide these decisions, and must reflect Australia’s international obligations, including incorporating rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
“This is about making sure people’s rights are considered in the decisions that shape their lives, whether that is access to housing, income support or services,” he said.
“We know what the problems are. We know what works. What’s missing is the commitment to a Human Rights Act.”
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I fully support this! It’s a step in the right direction.
When people are backed into a corner after sustaining a life-altering brain injury they need all the support they can get. Support that fights for their human right to be protected from insult after injury, regardless of who they are, or their financial status. The injury alone robs them of that safety net in time to come with ongoing medical costs, which seem insurmountable and never-ending. Personally, I would like to see law reform with changes that protect people from unnecessarily losing their jobs. Recovery from a brain injury is not linear and takes longer than the 12 months currently written into law before an employer can legally dismiss an employee. It’s not a broken arm or leg injury – it’s bigger than that. If they aren’t able to perform their usual role, then (at a minimum) there needs to be better support and systems in place to either help them succeed in something else, or rehab that ACTUALLY works. Employers know they have the upper hand and, while there are those who do the right thing, there are also those who don’t.
Currently, rehab and support for people with a brain injury fails to meet an individual where they are at – the cookie cutter approach DOES NOT work. Advocacy agencies are at capacity and the system is buckling. More importantly, not everyone is out to be a burden on the government, which inevitably happens when people are let down and fall through the cracks only increasing the burden on society and adding to the homelessness crisis — because that’s the reality. The ramifications are endless. Basic human rights, reasonable adjustments and less companies who say they support diversity and inclusion, but are really just ticking a box and being selective in who that statement applies to.
Law reform is a great place to start. Then, ask yourself; what if this happened to me? How would I like to be treated?
We need human rights in our constitution there are some pretty ibig violations in disability sector and health aging and childcare yet despite hearing horror stories nothing changes royal commission in to abuse and neglect highlighted probably only tip of the iceberg and it showed horrific violations in human rights mental health system it self is neglecting and abusing people and NDIS what’s them to handle participants they throw off ? It’s inhumane people are going to end up homeless dying from neglect and no effort has been made to recognise the criminal behaviours and trafficking of vulnrable people by crime syndicates who see NDIS participants as commodities and government is alraeady causing significant neglect with cuts they’ve already made and people are suffering already don’t let 160000 go without if no adequate support replaces NDIS or people are going to die people with disabilities are people too and many are alone and vulnrable not all have family to turn too