Disability Discrimination Act Review – Community Survey

Overview

We are consulting the public on ways to reform the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (the Act). 

This is part of the Australian Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (the Disability Royal Commission).

The review considers 15 recommendations that the Disability Royal Commission made about the Act. It also considers other ways to make the Act clearer and bring it up to date.

We have written an Issues Paper [PDF 1.3MB] that talks about each of these areas in more detail.

Community survey

We have developed a survey for the community to have their say about how the Act could be improved.

You can use this survey to give us your feedback about some of the areas our review of the Act is covering. You can also give feedback on other ways you think we could change the Act.

This survey has a shorter set of questions for people in the community who do not want to respond to the questions in the Issues Paper but would still like to contribute to the review. 

If you prefer to give more detailed feedback about what needs to change in the Act, you can make a submission on the questions in the Issues Paper. You can do this as an individual or on behalf of an organisation.

There is also an Easy Read [PDF 4.25MB] summary and questions available.

Why we are consulting

Putting the recommendations in place will affect a lot of different stakeholders. That includes people with disability and duty holders under the Act, including:

• employers
• small businesses
• education providers
• service providers. 

We are asking for everyone’s views to make sure all voices are heard.

We are not asking if the Act should be reformed. Instead, we want your views on the best way to reform it. This will help to reduce discrimination against people with disability and help to make things clearer for people with duties under the Act.

Who we want to hear from

We welcome views from across the community.

The government invites the following groups to share their views on this important area for reform:

• people with disability
• carers, families and kin
• advocates
• service providers
• small businesses
• employers
• unions
• education providers
• academia
• the broader community.

We will use this feedback to help us consider reforms to the Disability Discrimination Act to make sure it is fit-for-purpose.

As part of our consultation, we will be holding in-person and online events. More information is available on the Attorney-General’s Department website.

Consultation documents

• Issues Paper [PDF 1.3MB]
• Issues Paper overview [PDF 133KB]
• Summary Issues Paper [PDF 208KB]
• Summary Issues Paper – Easy Read version [PDF 4.25MB]
• Summary Issues Paper – Auslan version (see below)

How you can take part in the consultation process

Follow the ‘Share your views’ link at the bottom of this page to complete the community survey. Taking part in this consultation is voluntary. You can do it anonymously and don’t have to give any personal or sensitive information. You can save and come back to the survey at any time and you don’t have to answer all the questions. You can also upload a written, audio or video submission if this is more accessible for you.

If you need help, you can call us on (02) 6141 6280 and leave a message. We will call you back and help you.

We will publish combined data that does not contain any personal or sensitive information and a summary of themes arising from the survey (e.g. "Thirty-six per cent of respondents reported they were people with disability" or “many respondents supported changing the definition of disability”). We will not publish any individual community survey responses.

Individual submissions could still be made available through:

• freedom of information requests
• requests from the Parliament.

Please see the Privacy Policy and Collection Notice [DOCX 109KB] for more information.

If you need any adjustments, contact us at DDAReview@ag.gov.au or (02) 6141 6280.