Beyond The Royal Commission - Volume 12

Governments’ responses

The DRC recommendation

The Australian Government and state and territory governments should each publish a written response to the Royal Commission’s Final report by 31 March 2024. Their responses should indicate whether the recommendations are accepted, rejected or subject to further consideration. They should include a plan for how the accepted recommendations will be implemented, the reasons for rejecting any recommendations, and a timeframe for any further consideration required.

The Australian Government and state and territory governments should table their responses in their respective parliaments and legislative assemblies.

The DRC recommendation

The Disability Reform Ministerial Council should oversee the implementation of the Royal Commission’s recommendations across the Australian Government and state and territory governments.

The Australian Government and each state and territory government should report to the Disability Reform Ministerial Council every six months. Their reports should detail the implementation status of each recommendation and raise any issues and risks.

In its 2024 report to National Cabinet, the Disability Reform Ministerial Council should identify the implementation of the Royal Commission’s recommendations as one of its priorities and include it in its workplan.

The DRC recommendation

Commencing in 2025, the National Disability Commission should table an annual report in the Australian Parliament reporting on the progress of the Australian Government and state and territory governments in implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission.

The report should compare progress across jurisdictions.

(For details of the National Disability Commission, see Volume 5, Governing for inclusion, Recommendation 5.5.)

The DRC recommendation

The National Disability Commission should lead independent evaluations of the implementation of the Royal Commission’s recommendations and their effectiveness in improving outcomes for people with disability. The evaluations should examine barriers to and drivers of effective implementation, and suggest measures for improvement.

The evaluations should be conducted five and 10 years after the delivery of the Final report, with reports tabled in the Australian Parliament.

Data Improvements

The DRC recommendation

The Australian Government and state and territory governments, through the Disability Reform Ministerial Council, should address the lack of consistent disability data by developing a nationally consistent approach to collecting disability information.

By December 2024, the Australian Government and state and territory governments should agree to a core set of questions to identify disability status to be used across all mainstream services and population surveys. This should be led by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare. The questions should be co-designed with people with disability and their representative organisations, and with First Nations subject matter experts.

The DRC recommendation

The Australian Government and state and territory governments, through the Disability Reform Ministerial Council, should address the lack of available disability data by implementing disability flags in data collections for key mainstream services.

By June 2025, the Australian Government and state and territory governments should publish an implementation plan outlining how the core set of questions will be integrated into data collections of priority mainstream services. This should be led by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare.

Why we want this recommendation to go further

The ABS should include a disability variable in all its surveys to ensure timely data is available about the experiences and outcomes for people with disability on par with other groups.

The DRC recommendation

The Australian Government and state and territory governments should support a strategy, led by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, to extend disability data collection:

a) to include people with disability in closed and segregated settings and those with communication support needs

b) to improve data on types of impairment

c) to improve data for intersectional analysis by enhancing data on women with disability; children and young people with disability; and First Nations, culturally and linguistically diverse, and LGBTIQA+ people with disability.

This strategy should form part of the Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031 Data Improvement Plan.

The DRC recommendation

The Australian Government and state and territory governments, through the Disability Reform Ministerial Council, should commit to long-term support to the National Disability Data Asset (NDDA).

All governments should:

a) by June 2024, commit to continuing funding to establish the NDDA as a national resource for longitudinal analysis of linked data across service systems

b) commit to publishing an annual statistical summary of the analyses of the NDDA’s linked data. This should focus on data insights not available from other sources and provide transparency on projects underway. All reported data should be disaggregated as far as possible to enable intersectional analysis

c) by December 2024, commence specific data projects using the NDDA that:

•  identify the factors that put people with disability at greatest risk of violence, abuse, neglect or exploitation

•  demonstrate the outcomes and experiences of people with disability transitioning between systems, including:

o  education and employment, child protection and justice systems, and housing and health

o  the National Disability Insurance Scheme and mainstream services

• evaluate the accuracy of disability status collection in various service settings.