Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Community Affairs References Committee on the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020, together with the Hansard record of proceedings and documents presented to the committee.

Ordered that the report be printed.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

This report has been the result of a lot of work by members of the community who have contributed very extensively to this inquiry. They gave us very extensive submissions. I thank them for the submissions they provided to the committee. I also thank the people who appeared before the committee. I also say thank you so much to the secretariat of the Community Affairs References Committee, who once again have gone above and beyond the call of duty to get this report tabled. This is about the National Disability Strategy. In fact, it's about one part of that—the accessibility and inclusiveness of our community.

First off, I want to talk about the issues around accessibility and why it's so important that we looked at this issue. For people with disability, the accessibility and inclusiveness of the community in which they reside fundamentally impacts upon the way they live their lives, work and socialise. A lack of accessibility creates external barriers that are not a function of a person's disability; they are a function of how well, or how poorly, the community interacts with and provides support for a person's life. Through our inquiry we found that there is general support for the National Disability Strategy. The National Disability Strategy was developed by COAG after a series of other reports and, in particular, some work done by the National People with Disabilities and Carer Council. They undertook extensive consultations that resulted in the report Shut out: the experience of people with disabilities and their families in Australia, which is commonly called the Shut out report. Subsequent to that, COAG developed the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020. One of the things the committee found is that, unfortunately, although the strategy is dated 2010, the implementation actually started significantly after that.

As I said, there was strong support for the National Disability Strategy. But one of the issues we very strongly came across straightaway was that it started at basically the same time that discussions on the NDIS started and the campaign for the NDIS started and the National Disability Insurance Scheme started rolling out. What has happened is that there's been a lot of focus, obviously, about getting the NDIS up and running. The National Disability Strategy was supposed to be complementing and working together with the NDIS. But the focus has been on the NDIS, and the National Disability Strategy hasn't been as carefully implemented and reviewed as would be ideal. In fact, a number of key reporting dates have been missed, and that was clearly pointed out.

What we did was to go through a large number of issues that had been raised to the committee. We looked at issues like universal barriers and a whole lot of other barriers to accessibility. But one of the issues that we clearly needed to articulate was the lack of understanding about accessibility. While physical accessibility is particularly important, there are also issues around accessibility, for example, in terms of electronic communications. I've spoken in this place many times around captions and audio description. So, it's the broader understanding of accessibility that we also need to be talking about.

There are social construct barriers as well. For example, we heard evidence from people with autism about overcoming inaccessibility by shops offering quiet shopping days. The lights are muted, sounds are muted, and people with autism feel more comfortable and not alienated by that particular environment. The committee looked at universal barriers in consultation. There was a great deal of criticism about the lack of consultation around implementation of the strategy and its coordination—remember, I'm talking just about one element of the National Disability Strategy—the lack of coordination was a really significant issue that people raised with us. The complaints system was another area that raised a great deal of concerns as well, particularly as people find it hard to raise individual complaints. I've already spoken about the focus on the NDIS.

The committee made seven recommendations, which I strongly urge the federal government and the state and territory governments to take on board. The first recommendation goes to coordination, which I talked about—that is, the committee recommends that the government takes to the Disability Reform Council for consideration a proposal to establish an office of disability strategy, or ODS, as a coordination agency for the National Disability Strategy. It would be under the oversight of the Disability Reform Council and for the revised National Disability Strategy after 2020. The committee believes that there absolutely needs to be something going on beyond 2020. But that office of disability strategy would ensure there was a coordination agency that was responsible for the coordination across the strategy, so that we could have a strategy being implemented in a strategic way.

The committee's No. 1 recommendation is that all Australian governments recommit to the Disability Strategy and to meeting associated domestic and international reporting obligations. As I said, people have a strong sense of ownership of the strategy. People weren't critical; they were supportive of the strategy. It's about the implementation of the strategy, the lack of coordination and the focus on the NDIS. People want the NDIS to be the best it can possibly be, but in order for the NDIS to be fully effective we need the National Disability Strategy. We need to ensure that it is strong, because the NDIS is not about providing those mainstream services that we expect to be available for people with disability.

It's also really important to remember that there are a lot of people with disability who will not be eligible for the NDIS. It's important they have those supports that are provided through mainstream services and that they are part of the National Disability Strategy. That is why it's so important that governments recommit to the National Disability Strategy and focus on making sure it's implemented and actually meeting the time lines.

We make a number of other recommendations, which I am sure my colleagues will also talk about in the chamber when they make their contributions on this particular report. We make recommendations around the need for consultation at every point and that we need guidelines for consultation to ensure that people are being properly consulted. We heard a number of examples where, for example, a council had gone ahead and put in what it thought was a great project for people with disability. It invited people with disability along to the launch, and there were problems. The project didn't meet their needs, and the first thing they really knew about it was when they were invited to the launch. That's not appropriate partnership; it's not appropriate consultation, and we talk about that in our report.

I'd also like to give a shout-out to my colleagues on the committee. This is a consensus report. The community affairs committee is very conscious of wanting, on these important issues, to take as strong a consensus approach as we can. We are very pleased that we have managed to achieve that in this instance, and I'll leave it up to my colleagues now to make their contributions.

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will make a very short contribution on this report. I came into this inquiry when it was already underway. Obviously it's an area where there is an extraordinary amount of activity happening at the moment with the implementation and full rollout of the NDIS.

While obviously the National Disability Strategy, as the report demonstrates, is a very important part of what governments are trying to do in this space, I do think it is unsurprising that with the extraordinary focus of the sector on the NDIS rollout that perhaps attention has been distracted from other areas of disability strategy for some time. That wasn't wrong. The NDIS is a very large, very complex change to the sector. It definitely is the most significant reform to the disability sector since Federation, and possibly in the history of western society. We've got a very significant change happening. The rollout is progressing; it's progressing well. That doesn't mean there aren't speed bumps. That doesn't mean there aren't problems. There are things that need to be addressed and fixed.

As well as being deputy chair of the community affairs references committee, I'm also on the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS. That also certainly takes a very collegiate approach to trying to identify issues, where there are problems with the rollout of the NDIS, and seeking to address them. It was very important in this space, where we do have broad support across the society, across the parliament, for the NDIS and for people with disabilities, that we do try to stay on a consensus ticket on this issue. I also think it's very important that we were able to deliver a consensus report, and I thank all members of the committee for their work in that regard.

I'd also like to extend my thanks to the secretariat. The work they do is extraordinary; the demands of both the community affairs reference and legislation committees are quite extraordinary. Again, I think they have helped to deliver a very high-quality product, a good report—one the committee can be proud of—and that should be noted. Thank you very much.

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also want to take a few moments to speak on the report of the Community Affairs References Committee on the inquiry into the delivery of outcomes under the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 to build accessible and inclusive communities. And I want to put on record my appreciation of the senators who were part of the inquiry. I think we worked well together to put together a report that is quite significant in regard to the recommendations and I too hope that the government look at these recommendations and take them on board. I also would like to thank the secretariat, who did an amazing job with this report.

But it is clear from this report, the evidence that was presented to us as a committee at the public hearings we held and, of course, the submissions we received that the government, in regard to priority one under the NDS, has dropped the ball when it comes to the strategy. It's very unlikely that, without a change of mindset and approach, the strategy's vision of an inclusive Australian society that enables people with disability to fulfil their potential as equal citizens will be achieved.

I say at the outset just how important the strategy is to people with disability, carers and advocates. I want to thank them for their commitment, the submissions they made and the evidence they gave, because it is clear from the evidence we received and the submissions that were made that people support this strategy and want it implemented. It's also clear that there are many good initiatives that are happening around the country. In particular, I have to say we heard of a number of very good initiatives at the local level, but it's also clear that the problem with the implementation of the strategy is a lack of coordination at the national level. As a result, it is difficult to discover just how much good work is going on and to ensure that good work can be shared. And it's clear that the Turnbull government really has set and forgotten when it comes to the National Disability Strategy. Without genuine change and a recommitment to the National Disability Strategy, our community will not realise the potential benefits of the strategy. The National Disability Strategy and the National Disability Insurance Scheme go together.

I want to consider the recommendations in the report and, in doing so, touch on some of the evidence presented to us. Firstly I want to consider the question of commitment to the strategy. The strategy was developed under a Labor government, and I don't believe that anyone would doubt the commitment of senators to the rights of people with disability and to making genuine change in our society to ensure those rights are acknowledged and observed. But I have to say that the evidence strongly suggests that our commitment needs to be better. Whilst there was an acknowledgment of the work that's been done under the NDIS, that isn't a reason for not being able to take a proactive approach to the goals and objectives under the NDS.

The strategy indicated there would be a progress report tracking national progress for people with disability every two years. Here we are almost in 2018, and there's been only one progress report. The original timetable for the progress report was 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020. To me, it's a very worrying sign if the government's attention is elsewhere. These reports need to be delivered. We've been told that the second progress report would be released this year, but as yet we haven't seen it. I get the feeling that this government is hoping it will be overlooked in the run-up to Christmas. There shouldn't be a delay in these reporting times. It's not only with the progress report that we've seen delays. There have been other reporting delays as well. The second implementation plan, the Australian government's action plan and the plan to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have all been delayed or released after the periods in which the programs actually started.

I will now turn to the recommendations that have been made. Recommendation 1 is:

The Committee recommends that all Australian Governments recommit to the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and meeting associated domestic and international reporting obligations.

We must take this work very seriously and we must take the reporting obligations very seriously too. I hope that the government will take notice of this recommendation and agree to it and the other recommendations, which the committee's put forward as a consensus group of recommendations.

I'd like now to turn to the question of who is responsible for implementing and coordinating the strategy. I have to say that the evidence presented to the committee, both by witnesses and in submissions, again suggests a lack of commitment to the strategy. The evidence presented to us showed a lack of proactive coordination. The committee's second recommendation is:

The committee recommends that the government takes to the Disability Reform Council for consideration a proposal to establish an Office of Disability Strategy under the oversight of the Disability Reform Council, as a coordination agency for the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and for the revised National Disability Strategy after 2020.

As Senator Siewert mentioned in her contribution, we've made the assumption that there will be a strategy after 2020.

One key issue that was mentioned time and time again in both the written and the oral evidence was the poor quality of consultation with people with disabilities about the National Disability Strategy's implementation. That led the committee to make recommendation 3:

The committee recommends that if an Office of Disability Strategy is established, that people with disability are consulted at every stage of its development and implementation.

We cannot implement this strategy without real consultation with people living with disability. As the report notes, a great deal of evidence was presented that pointed to the lack of consultation that led to outcomes that were ineffective in resolving barriers to accessibility. The second implementation plan didn't provide any detail about what form consultation should take place; it just said it should take place. While individual agencies and local governments have paid attention to what consultation should look like, the consultation has been inconsistent, if it happens at all—and Senator Siewert, in her contribution, outlined the instance that we were alerted to. The committee also formulated a recommendation around the development of best-practice guidelines for detailed consultation with people with disability and their advocates under the National Disability Strategy. The evidence is in: if we don't get the consultation right, the outcomes will be haphazard and barriers to accessibility will remain or might even get worse.

There are a number of other recommendations that I did want to talk about in my contribution here today, but I am running out of time. I'm hopeful that the government will agree to all seven recommendations in this report. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.