Disability Discrimination Commissioner says more action needed to reduce discrimination

ABC NEWS (Australia)

From a long-awaited royal commission response, to major changes to the NDIS, it's been a big year for the disability community. The ABC’s national disability affairs reporter Nas Campanella has sat down with the discrimination commissioner, on international day of people with disability.

Transcript

00:00Rosemary Kayess, thank you for joining me. The government has committed to six monthly

00:08updates on its response to the Disability Royal Commission final report. The first is

00:14due out next month. What would you like it to focus on?

00:19It would be good to see something that isn't just business as usual. A lot of the recommendations

00:24that were accepted have been accepted in ways that are already programs that have been

00:30allocated and funding allocated. What are some of the extra key areas, for

00:36example, group homes, education? Definitely, I mean education especially. I've

00:43got a keen interest to see Australia move towards inclusive education. I've put forward

00:51to the Minister for Education that the Commission would be well placed as an independent agency

00:57to develop a roadmap to inclusive education. We need to establish the preconditions for

01:05inclusive education. We can't tinker around the edges.

01:09There's been a little bit of talk among people in the community about strengthening the Disability

01:14Discrimination Act. Would you like to see that happen?

01:17Yes, the Disability Discrimination Act is definitely in need of amendment. I think it's

01:23very important that we look at the recent changes to the Sex Discrimination Act. The

01:29really positive thing about the changes to the Sex Discrimination Act was the introduction

01:35of a positive duty. The positive duty is about changing systems and making sure systems are

01:43accessible to people, safe for people. The emphasis is on duty holders to ensure they've

01:51got safe and accessible environments for people and that you stop discrimination from happening.

02:00The National Disability Insurance Scheme has undergone some major changes this year, including

02:04the introduction of a list which constitutes what can be covered by the NDIS. How do you

02:12think that process was handled?

02:14The significant fear and anxiety that I've encountered speaks volume about the toll,

02:19both personal and professional, that has been taken for people. Lists are very blunt instruments

02:25for making decisions, what's in, what's out. It paves the way for lazy decision making

02:33and it questions whether decision makers are giving the choice and control and the individualised

02:45response that the NDIS was supposed to be able to provide for people. It's very hard

02:52to see a flexible rights-based system emanating from in and out lists.

03:00Today is International Day of People with Disability. What relevance do you think today

03:04still holds?

03:06It's coming up to the end of the first year of me being Disability Discrimination Commissioner

03:12and there is an overwhelming sense for me that this year has been déjà vu. We've been

03:20here before, we've had extensive reports, we've had numerous recommendations that have

03:26identified the inequality and discrimination that people with disability experience. We

03:32haven't at any point questioned the system. We keep focusing in our strategies, our policies

03:39on inclusion and ability and potential. We need to really get to the root cause and deal

03:49with the systemic failures rather than tinkering around the edges and people doing fieldwork

03:56and doing good things for people with disability.

03:59What's your message today to people with disability and decision makers?

04:03For people with disability I just want to acknowledge the hard work and the personal,

04:09emotional, mental strain that they've been on over the last couple of years and for policy

04:19makers I would really like to ask them to look at disability policy through fresh eyes.

04:25To look at the language of human rights that we seem to be able to use in gender and race

04:32and First Nations policy instruments, but we just don't seem to be able to get there

04:37with disability.

04:39Rose Mukias, thank you very much for your time.

04:41Thank you Naz.

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