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31 January 2025

Budget measures to enable equity, inclusion and access for people with disability

Last year (2024) saw government responses to the two landmark reform processes being;

• the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (Disability Royal Commission), and
• the Independent Review of the �Թ���վ Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS Review).

In July 2024, the Australian Government responded simultaneously with all state and territory governments to the Disability Royal Commission. PWDA and our fellow Disability Representative Organisations (DROs) were disappointed by the lacklustre response.

The disappointment was exacerbated later in 2024 by legislative amendments to the �Թ���վ Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 relating to the NDIS Review.

Our budget submission proposes commitments to reestablish trust with the 5.5 million Australians with disability, with budgetary measures that invest in:

• Ensuring economic justice, in the context of cost-of-living and housing crises that disproportionately impact people with disability
• Enabling inclusion and access to supports and services, in the context of reforms to the NDIS and supports that sit outside the NDIS
• Protecting human rights and addressing disability discrimination, in the context of the Human Rights Framework and proposed Human Rights Act and Disability Discrimination Act 1992 reforms
• Investing in genuine codesign, rather than tokenistic consultation

The government has a chance to make disability advocacy history by leading with significant, long-lasting reform. Reform that will ensure Australians with disability can live in communities that are accessible, inclusive and equitable, with protected human rights.

PWDA urges the Australian Government to implement our recommendations with federal budget measures that enable economic justice, inclusion and access, human rights and elimination of disability discrimination, with genuine codesign cutting across all domains.

Recommendations

PWDA have made a number of recommendations split across the focus areas of economic justice, inclusion and access, human rights and elimination of disability discrimination, and genuine codesign.

Economic Justice

Recommendation 1: Provide adequate funding for the oversight and review of targeted action plans under Australia’s Disability Strategy 2022-32, including the Inclusive �Թ���վs and Communities Targeted Action Plan.

Recommendation 2: Take leadership through the Disability Reform Ministerial Council (DRMC) to ensure national consistency in implementation of the �Թ���վ Construction Code. The current NSW and incoming Western Australian governments must commit to adopting the standard for both legacy and new housing stock.

Recommendation 3: Commit to increasing the maximum threshold of the Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) by 60%, especially for recipients with disability due to the lack of availability of accessible rental properties and the additional expenses incurred when renting in proximity to local community for access to essential services.

Budget impact: $2.37 billion

Recommendation 4: Commit to increasing Jobseeker by $82/week by 1 July 2025, to support people with disability experiencing disproportionate economic disadvantage due to the cost-of-living and housing crises.

Budget impact: $3.15 billion.

Recommendation 5: Provide lifelong access to the Disability Support Pension by permitting people to achieve the 20 points requirements across multiple tables for access eligibility.

Budget impact: None.

Recommendation 6: Adopt Recommendation 9 of the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee 2024 Report to: ‘relax work limit rules on payments to encourage and enable workforce participation, particularly for people who have fluctuating or episodic conditions or caring responsibilities, including by: a. Removing the 30 hour per week limit for DSP recipients.’

Inclusion and access

Recommendation 7: Australian, state and territory governments commit to:

• Prioritising cohorts who are already experiencing the gap in services and support outside the NDIS, including those in thin market areas including regional, remote and rural regions, and to meet diverse needs for people with intersecting identities. There needs to be clear remedial actions for people with disability, including children, who have already lost supports through the NDIS due to eligibility re-assessments.
• Not implementing Foundational Supports prior to implementing nationally consistent Foundational Supports Standards that are genuinely codesigned and coproduced with people with disability and their representative organisations.
• Pilot testing of Foundational Supports that involves codesign with people with disability and their representative organisations to refine service prior to full national implementation
• Equitable rollout of Foundational Supports after pilot testing that does not result in location lottery for service delivery, creating a continuation of the thin market of service delivery being experienced in regional, rural and remote areas. Participants must not be disadvantaged due to their locality.
• Not cutting the funding of the NDIS to fund Foundational Supports. It is essential that the integrity of the NDIS, centring participant autonomy and agency are prioritised when making funding decisions about how the NDIS fits within a broader disability supports ecosystem

• Developing clearer specification of how Foundational Supports will be funded at national, state and territory government levels, with clear articulation of where funding priorities lay within each jurisdiction both now and into the future.

Budget impact for codesign and coproduction of Foundational Supports Standards: $1 million.

Foundational Supports pilot testing: Unknown.

Recommendation 8: Adopt Recommendation 5.6 of the Disability Royal Commission for new governance arrangements for disability including a ministerial portfolio for Disability Inclusion.

Budget impact: $108 million over 4 years.

Recommendation 9: Enable long-term, sustainable support for advocacy that addresses unmet demand by increasing resources for individual advocacy for people with disability by:

• Providing ongoing investment for Disability Representative Organisations (DRO) funded by the Department of Social Services
• Provide ongoing investment for organisations funded under the �Թ���վ Disability Advocacy Program (NDAP).

Budget impact: $500k per annum for each DRO; $43 million per annum for the NDAP.

Recommendation 10: Australian, state and territory governments commit to elimination of restrictive practices through:

• Commission a longitudinal study by the �Թ���վ Disability Research Partnership (NDRP) of the impact of ‘positive behaviour support’ and other strategies to eliminate restrictive practices, codesigned with people with disability and other stakeholders.
• Take national leadership in the development of a Roadmap and Joint Action Plan to eliminate restrictive practices, ensuring national consistency in legislative frameworks and subsequent actions taken by each state and territory.

Budget impact: Investment of $1.2 million has already been made by the Australian Government to reduce and eliminate restrictive practices.

Recommendation 11: Provide additional investment to assist people with communication support needs as a priority, enabling rights for people who face barriers to accessing supported decision-making and are more likely to lack other informal safeguards.

Budget impact: $500k

Recommendation 12: Develop a Supported Decision Making Framework guided by the Disability Royal Commission Research Report: Diversity, dignity, equity and best practice: A framework for Supported Decision Making. Codesigned with people with higher support needs and their DRO’s.

Budget impact: $1.6m

Human Rights and Disability Discrimination

Recommendation 12: Establish a national Human Rights Act, as per Recommendations 1 and 2 of the Inquiry into Australia’s Human Rights Framework. The development of the national Human Rights Act should consider Recommendations 4.1-4.21 made in the Disability Royal Commission response relating to a Disability Rights Act.

Budget impact: Unknown.

Recommendation 13: Reforms the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 in codesign with people with disability and their representative organisations.

Disability Discrimination Act reform and modernisation should include:

• Disability Standards for Education 2005, noting the 2020 Review, with additional updates to support proposed desegregation in the Disability Royal Commission, namely Recommendations 7.13 and 7.14
• Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport (DSAPT) 2002 noting the 2022 Review and updates from the Aviation White Paper including the proposed Aviation Disability Standard[6]
• Disability (Access to Premises – Building) Standard 2010, which will be next reviewed in 2026
• Updates to reflect evidence-based best practice in emergency management to support people with disability.

Budget impact: $6.9 million already designated for DDA reform and modernisation.

Genuine Codesign

Recommendation 14: Commit to genuine codesign with people with disability and their representative organisations with respect to all budget measures that will lead to public consultations and reforms across all portfolios.

The Australian Government must demonstrate commitment by:

• Implementation of a Disability Reform Implementation Council with representatives comprising of people with disability and members from their representative organisations by 1 July 2025
• Establishing reasonable timeframes for reform implementation with respect to demands imposed from concurrent consultations.

Budget impact: Unknown.