Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—In respect of the Disability Services and Inclusion Bill 2023, I move amendments (1) to (4) on sheet 2181, amendments (1) to (5) on sheet 2182 and amendments (1) to (3) on sheet 2172 together:

SHEET 2172

(1) Clause 17, page 22 (line 23), omit "this Part", substitute "section 13".

(2) Clause 17, page 22 (line 27), omit "that section", substitute "that Act".

(3) Page 23 (after line 3), at the end of Part 2, add:

18A Segregated accommodation or housing

(1) Despite subsection 13(1), the Minister must not make an arrangement for the making of payments, or make a grant of financial assistance, to a person in relation to the provision, on or after 1 January 2038, of accommodation supports or services that involve the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

(2) Despite section 32B of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997, the Commonwealth must not, on or after the commencement of this section, make an arrangement, or make a grant of financial assistance, under that Act in relation to accommodation or housing, on or after 1 January 2038, for people with disability that involves the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

(3) Despite subsection 14(1) of the NDIS Act, the National Disability Insurance Agency must not, on or after the commencement of this section, provide funding in relation to accommodation or housing, on or after 1 January 2038, for people with disability that involves the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

(4) Despite Part 3 of the NDIS Act, an amount is not payable under the National Disability Insurance Scheme in respect of a plan (within the meaning of that Act), that comes into effect on or after the commencement of this section for a person who is a participant in that scheme, if:

(a) the amount is in relation to accommodation or housing, on or after 1 January 2038, for the person; and

(b) the accommodation or housing involves the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

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SHEET 2181

(1) Clause 8, page 10 (line 3), at the end of the definition of education supports or services, add ", including supports or services to facilitate participation in mainstream education settings".

(2) Clause 17, page 22 (line 23), omit "this Part", substitute "section 13".

(3) Clause 17, page 22 (line 27), omit "that section", substitute "that Act".

(4) Page 23 (after line 3), at the end of Part 2, add:

18B Segregated education

(1) Despite subsection 13(1), the Minister must not make an arrangement for the making of payments, or make a grant of financial assistance, to a person in relation to the provision, on or after 1 January 2051, of education supports or services that involve the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

(2) Despite section 32B of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997, the Commonwealth must not, on or after the commencement of this section, make an arrangement, or make a grant of financial assistance, under that Act in relation to education, on or after 1 January 2051, for people with disability that involves the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

(3) Despite subsection 14(1) of the NDIS Act, the National Disability Insurance Agency must not, on or after the commencement of this section, provide funding in relation to education, on or after 1 January 2051, of people with disability that involves the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

(4) Despite Part 3 of the NDIS Act, an amount is not payable under the National Disability Insurance Scheme in respect of a plan (within the meaning of that Act), that comes into effect on or after the commencement of this section for a person who is a participant in that scheme, if:

(a) the amount is in relation to education, on or after 1 January 2051, for the person; and

(b) the education involves the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

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SHEET 2182

(1) Clause 8, page 10 (line 12), at the end of the definition of employment supports or services, add:

; (d) supports or services to facilitate participation by people with disability in employment that does not involve the segregation or isolation of people with disability.

(2) Clause 17, page 22 (line 23), omit "this Part", substitute "section 13".

(3) Clause 17, page 22 (line 27), omit "that section", substitute "that Act".

(4) Clause 17, page 22 (line 30), omit "This Part", substitute "Section 13".

(5) Page 23 (after line 3), at the end of Part 2, add:

18C Segregated employment

(1) Despite subsection 13(1), the Minister must not make an arrangement for the making of payments, or make a grant of financial assistance, to a person in relation to the provision, on or after 1 January 2034, of employment supports or services that involve the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

(2) Despite section 32B of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997, the Commonwealth must not, on or after the commencement of this section, make an arrangement, or make a grant of financial assistance, under that Act in relation to employment, on or after 1 January 2034, for people with disability that involves the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

(3) Despite subsection 14(1) of the NDIS Act, the National Disability Insurance Agency must not, on or after the commencement of this section, provide funding in relation to employment, on or after 1 January 2034, for people with disability that involves the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

(4) Despite Part 3 of the NDIS Act, an amount is not payable under the National Disability Insurance Scheme in respect of a plan (within the meaning of that Act), that comes into effect on or after the commencement of this section for person who is a participant in that scheme, if:

(a) the amount is in relation to employment, on or after 1 January 2034, for the person; and

(b) the employment involves the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

(5) Despite Chapter 2D of the Social Security Act 1991, the Employment Secretary (within the meaning of that Act) must not, on or after the commencement of this section, make an arrangement for the making of payments, or make a grant of financial assistance, in relation to employment, on or after 1 January 2034, for people with disability that involves the segregation or isolation of people with disability from other members of Australian society.

These amendments end segregation for disabled people in housing, in work and in education. In Australia in 2023, a disabled child is forced to go to a segregated special school where disabled children are physically prevented from being educated alongside their non-disabled peers. In 2023, a disabled person can legally be paid dollars on the hour for their labour packing earphones for Qantas or putting food in packages for the Defence Force. Twenty thousand of us are forced into these forms of segregated work, and don't you tell me about choice. I hope that in the course of this debate the government does not once bring forward the discriminatory nonsense of choice. When disabled people and our families are repeatedly refused entry to mainstream settings including mainstream schools, when employers don't return our requests to be interviewed for a job and when we are told that our support needs cannot be met by an employer in the workplace, we are left then with no option. Don't you dare tell disabled people that, just because of certain policies and procedures of the disability support pension, it is perfectly fine for us to be paid dollars on the hour, when this government sets the policies of the disability support pension. And don't you dare tell us that we have to choose between being segregated together in institutional housing settings and loneliness in isolation. I am so sick of advocates for segregated housing explaining to me: 'Oh, Senator, if we got rid of segregated housing, disabled people would be lonely. Don't you know that disabled people like to live together?' We sometimes do. We sometimes don't. We are human beings, and we deserve the same choice in housing that is afforded to every other person in this country. It is true that renters right now may need to club together to afford their rent in this rental crisis, but there is not a government policy that has the explicit intent to require them to do that. That is what we currently have in segregated housing in Australia. These settings in which segregation occurs have been identified by the disability royal commission as key parts of the cycle of segregation in which disabled people are trapped and forced into segregated schools, forced into segregated work and forced into segregated housing. What is the result? The result is violence, abuse, neglect and early death.

The government may well say: 'There is need for more consultation. There is a need for a transition.' These amendments give you 10 years for the transition to fully inclusive work, 10 years to pay us a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. It gives you 10 years to ensure all disabled people have the right to live in the forms of housing that we choose. It gives you until 2051 to decide that disabled children will be educated alongside our non-disabled peers wherever we live. Thirty years is long enough. In fact, in the view of the Australian Greens, it's too damn long. We think that you should get on and do this within the next decade, but let us take this moment to decide that inclusion is the destination and there are to be no caveats upon the rights of disabled people in Australia. Enough of us have spent long enough in the dark, chained to beds and denied our rights to control where we go to sleep at night and who shares our spaces. Enough of us have spent long enough having our labour systemically exploited with the support of Labor governments. Enough is enough. The cycle of segregation must end.

It falls to this government, at this place and at this time, to make a decision: are you going to join with the disability community and the disability justice movement in our work for the collective liberation of disabled people, where no body or mind is left behind in that transition? Or are you going to continue to administrate a system which sees us segregated, exploited, abused and driven to early death? These are the decisions before you now. These amendments by the Australian Greens give you the opportunity to make a choice, to decide to join with us and to back the rights of the disabled people, and I urge you to join us today.

Urgency is needed. The lives of disabled people, our lives, matter. We will no longer accept mumbling words about consultation or transition. Action is how we will judge you now. I commend these amendments to the Senate. I commend the transformation they will enter us into, and I pledge my whole body and soul to the realisation of a fully inclusive Australia. I know that every single one of my Greens colleagues join me in that.