Pre-Budget Submission: Ten priorities for the 2024-25 South Australian Budget

The 2024-25 State Budget comes at a critical time for the disability community after the release 
of the Disability Royal Commission (DRC) and National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
Review final reports last year. Their recommendations present the Government with a 
significant opportunity to invest in policies to make decisive changes in how people living with 
disability experience life in our state, including ending abuse and segregation. Below, we have 
identified ten top priorities for inclusion in the 2024-25 State Budget.

At a glance

Our priority areas for the 2024-25 Budget are:

1) Funding for independent advocacy
The Disability Royal Commission (DRC) Final Report emphasises that all people living with disability should have access to high-quality, well-resourced, independent advocacy services.

Existing advocacy programs are not meeting demand and therefore additional investments are 
needed.

In South Australia, successive governments have failed to fulfil their responsibility to fund independent disability advocacy adequately, or at all, since 2007.

To uphold the State’s obligations to fund independent individual, representative, and systemic advocacy in South Australia, the state government must immediately invest $3.175 million for 2024-25.

 

2) Investments in safeguarding
The DRC exposed atrocious levels of violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation of people living 
with disability, describing these issues as a ‘significant, under-reported problem’.

An urgent investment in co-designing a comprehensive response to address shortcomings in 
safeguarding is critical, backed by budget provisions to implement reforms to avoid delays.

The State Government must invest in genuine co-design processes focused on reforming formal safeguards in South Australia, including expanding the remit of the Community Visitor Scheme, legislating and implementing Supported Decision-Making approaches, and reducing and eliminating restrictive practices.

The State Government must also invest in a co-designed program to fund grassroots initiatives that build and strengthen natural safeguards across our neighbourhoods and communities to ensure people living with disability are welcomed, fully included, and supported to take up valued roles.

3) Funded plan to end housing segregation
People living with disability and their families are systematically taught there are no safe or viable mainstream housing options, forcing them to access segregated settings, something that can be described as ‘coercive choice’.

All DRC commissioners with lived experience of disability recommended group houses be phased out.

We wholeheartedly believe that housing segregation can be phased out within the term of Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031. There is no place for segregated housing or institutional settings in today’s world.

The State Government must, as a first step, immediately: 

• Stop funding new group houses and group house arrangements. 
• Commit to no more new residents being moved into group houses. 
• Invest in a co-designed plan with residents and other stakeholders to replace group houses with alternative inclusive options.
• Support existing residents to make genuine informed choices about where and with whom they want to live.
• Invest in a co-designed comprehensive transition plan with clear timeframes and a final deadline to end segregated housing in South Australia.

4) Funded plan for inclusive education
Students living with disability face challenges in accessing mainstream education and often face discrimination, segregation from their non-disabled peers, bullying, restrictive practices, and suspensions or expulsions. These practices need to stop!

All children should have the option of attending their local school with the assurance of being welcomed, supported, and included, and thereby receiving a high-quality inclusive education.

The State Government should commit to ending segregated ‘special’ schools and units within the term of Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031.

The State Government should NOT invest in any new public or private education infrastructure, programs, or other provisions that segregate children living with disability from non-disabled students.

The State Government must invest in a co-designed Inclusive Education Strategy and subsequent initiatives to create an inclusive education system for all South Australian children.

 

5) Funding for foundational supports
Foundational supports will ensure the many people living with disability who are not eligible for an individual NDIS Plan can access what they need. They will also contribute to the long-term sustainability of the NDIS.

Foundational supports will help bridge the gap between mainstream services and the NDIS. However, they should not detract from the importance of investing in ensuring mainstream settings are accessible for, and inclusive of, all South Australians.

The 2024-25 Budget should invest in a state-based co-design process to create an Action Plan that connects the national Foundational Supports Strategy with what is needed on the ground to make both General and Targeted Foundational Supports a success.

The 2024-25 Budget should also invest in a whole-of-government effort to address problems of inaccessibility and exclusion in partnership with disability communities.

 

6) Support NCC 2022 adoption with ‘best practice’ campaign
The State Government’s decision to implement the National Construction Code 2022 (NCC 2022) Livable Housing Design (LHD) Standard and new energy efficiency requirements from October 2024 is very welcome.

This is the first step in righting a long-standing injustice for people living with disability to access mainstream affordable housing options, will be integral in ending housing segregation, and will also ensure our ageing population can age in place.

We have deep concerns that the decision to provide blanket concessions for some new builds, without an evidence-based explanation for doing so, will undermine this work.

The State Government must immediately invest in education, capacity building, and demonstration projects to ensure the success of the NCC 2022.

The State Government must also adopt a nation-leading Accessible Housing Overlay within the Planning and Design Code to be applied to new developments, particularly those on brown and greenfield sites to assist in addressing the shortfall in accessible housing supply.

 

7) Building new Changing Places facilities
Changing Places facilities enable people with high support needs to access and participate in their communities. They are a crucial element of meeting minimum standards of accessibility.

In its 2022-2023 budget, the Federal Government committed $32.2 million over four years to fund new Changing Places facilities across Australia.

This commitment funds up to half the cost of building a facility in local government areas without an existing Changing Places facility or up to 40 per cent of the cost for subsequent facilities in those areas with one or more.

So far, only two new facilities will be built in South Australia from this initiative.

The State Government must commit matching funds over the next two years to deliver this important community infrastructure across South Australia.

 

8) Dedicated funding for Communication Partners services
We must prioritise and invest in protecting the rights and interests of people living with disability interacting with the justice system.

Equal participation in the justice system is a human right.

The current Communication Partners model, replacing the original model in 2020, is problematic, creates unnecessary barriers for access, and does not provide fairness and equality in our justice system.

The State Government must invest in reinstating the Communication Partners Service (CPS) with dedicated funding and ensure it is readily available to support people with complex communication needs.

 

9) Transition state’s taxi fleet to fully accessible vehicles
Without accessible transport, people are cut off from vital services, such as healthcare, and become increasingly isolated from their communities.

The unreliability of Access Taxi services in South Australia has been impacting on the lives of people living with disability for many years and the problem is continuing to get worse.

It is time to transition South Australia’s taxi vehicle fleet to fully accessible vehicles to ensure that taxi services are available on an equal basis to everyone in our community and accessible services are offered within a competitive market.

JFA Purple Orange has modelled the full transition to accessible vehicles in South Australia at a total cost of less than $80 million over 10 years – that is, less than $8 million per year.

The State Government should invest in a 10-year co-contribution grant scheme to achieve a fully accessible taxi fleet by 2034, underpinned by revenue obtained from the Point to Point Transport Service Transaction Levy.

 

10) Boost access and inclusion with funding for new initiatives
South Australia’s commitments to creating a truly inclusive and accessible state under Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031 and Inclusive SA 2019-2023 (and forthcoming new plan) must be backed with sufficient human and financial resourcing to achieve results.

The State Government must invest in: 

• Actions to address the shortfall in employment outcomes for people living with disability and ensure the new public sector employment target can be realised and quickly increased to deliver a population proportionate target within the term of Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031.
• Measures to address shortfalls in access and inclusion of people living with disability in healthcare settings, including by funding an expansion of My Home Hospital, a roll out of Disability Liaison Officers in each Local Health Network, and the implementation of professional development training programs to end discrimination.
• A substantial dedicated funding stream to achieve the outcomes in the updated State Disability Inclusion Plan (currently Inclusive SA) and provide funding for actions under the Disability Access and Inclusion Plans (DAIPs) of government agencies and councils to ensure genuine outcomes are realised.

 

Our recommendations

Funding for independent advocacy

Recommendation 1.1: The 2024-25 State Budget should invest $3.175 million per year to fund statewide independent disability advocacy programs with three funding streams for organisations to provide individual, representative/peer group, and systemic advocacy. This funding commitment should ensure independent advocacy services are available across the whole state and that specialist services for First Nations people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people in closed systems, people with complex communication needs, and similar are funded in all three streams.

Recommendation 1.2: The South Australian Government should announce funding for independent advocacy services well before the full Budget announcement to ensure the necessary establishment processes can occur as soon as possible within this calendar year.

Recommendation 1.3: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should invest in comprehensive data collection about demand and unmet need for independent advocacy services and publicly report this data on a regular basis. The Government should work with other jurisdictions to ensure data collection is robust, comprehensive, and nationally consistent.

 

Investments in safeguarding

Recommendation 2.1: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should invest in genuine co-design processes focused on reforming formal safeguards in South Australia, particularly in relation to expanding the remit of the Community Visitor Scheme, legislating and implementing Supported Decision-Making approaches, and reducing and eliminating restrictive practices, among other changes.

Recommendation 2.2: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should make adequate funding provision for the roll out of co-designed formal safeguarding reforms in a timely and effective manner to ensure an end to the violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation of South Australians living with disability.

Recommendation 2.3: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should invest in a co-designed program to fund grassroots initiatives that build and strengthen natural safeguards across our neighbourhoods and communities to ensure people living with disability are welcomed, fully included, and supported to take up valued roles.

 

Funded plan to end housing segregation

Recommendation 3.1: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should commit the South Australian Government to phasing out segregated housing and forced shared living arrangements. It should provide the necessary funding to deliver a staged transition plan withinthe term of Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031.

Recommendation 3.2: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should specifically preclude any funding for new segregated provisions in housing, including, but not limited to, new group houses, and commit the South Australian Government to ceasing the placing of any new residents into forced shared living arrangements.

Recommendation 3.3: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should invest in new inclusive housing options that reflect individual choice and enable residents to achieve a genuine sense of home (as opposed to facility).

 

Funded plan for inclusive education

Recommendation 4.1: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should commit the South Australian Government to ending segregated ‘special’ schools and units. It should provide the necessary funding to deliver a staged transition to fully inclusive education approaches within the term of Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031.

Recommendation 4.2: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should NOT invest in any new public or private education infrastructure, programs, or other provisions that segregate children living with disability from other students. This includes rejecting the DRC recommendation suggesting relocations of ‘special’ schools to within close proximity of mainstream schools.

Recommendation 4.3: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should also: 

• Invest in the development of a co-designed Inclusive Education Strategy for South Australia;
• Fund genuinely inclusive education infrastructure and programs across South Australia’s schools;
• Provide professional development programs for principals, teachers, and other staff to upskill in implementing genuine inclusive education approaches in their schools and classrooms; and
• Provide sustained funding for a reboot of the Inclusive School Communities project and related endeavours, including a ‘best practice’ inclusive education school to act as a practical demonstration for other schools, in order to build overall school capacity for an inclusive culture.

 

Funding for foundational supports

Recommendation 5.1: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should provide funding to co-design with disability communities a state Action Plan connected to the proposed national Foundational Supports Strategy in order to support a successful roll out of these supports.

Recommendation 5.2: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should make provision for investments in foundational supports, including by signally our state’s willingness to lead pilots or trials of new approaches.

Recommendation 5.3: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should invest in a whole-of-government approach to ensuring all mainstream services and settings are made accessible for, and inclusive of, all South Australians in line with our state’s commitments under Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031 and Inclusive SA 2019-2023.

 

Support NCC 2022 adoption with ‘best practice’ campaign

Recommendation 6.1: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should invest in a comprehensive education and awareness campaign to promote the many benefits of compliance with the new National Construction Code 2022 (NCC 2022) Livable Housing Design (LHD) Standard to the housing construction sector, including to directly counteract the many damaging myths and misconceptions about the requirements. This could be implemented alongside a similar approach regarding the new energy efficiency rules under the NCC 2022.

Recommendation 6.2: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should commit resources to Renewal SA for one of their current residential projects that will commence construction this year to demonstrate to the housing construction sector how new builds can meet the National Construction Code 2022 (NCC 2022) Livable Housing Design (LHD) Standard, as well as the new Voluntary Livable Housing Design Standard published by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB). These demonstration projects should help provide a platform for our Recommendation 6.1 above.

Recommendation 6.3: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should invest in ongoing comprehensive data collection about the number of concessions granted regarding the National Construction Code 2022 (NCC 2022) Livable Housing Design (LHD) Standard, as well as forecast future concessions anticipated for narrow or irregular-shaped allotments. This data should be reported publicly as least monthly.

Recommendation 6.4: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should make a significantinvestment in new social housing stock, all of which should, to the greatest extent possible, adhere to the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) Voluntary Standard for Livable Housing Design. At a minimum, the South Australian Government should commit to a timeframe to implement the Voluntary Standard for all new social housing builds within the next three years, for example, 25 per cent in 2024-25, 50 per cent in 2025-26, and achieving 100 per cent in 2026-27.

Recommendation 6.5: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should fund a process beginning immediately to undertake a Planning and Design Code Amendment to create an Accessible Housing Overlay for South Australia, to be adopted as soon as possible (for an example of an Amendment, see Appendix A).

 

Building new Changing Places facilities

Recommendation 7.1: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should invest in at least 47 new Changing Places facilities to be funded before 2026, utilising the available federal co-contribution to maximise outcomes of this initiative for our state. One of these Changing Places should be a reinstated facility at Glenthorne National Park – Ityamaiitpinna Yarta.

 

Dedicated funding for Communication Partners services

Recommendation 8.1: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should invest in reinstating the Communication Partners Service (CPS) and ensure it is readily available to support people with complex communication needs.

 

Transition state’s taxi fleet to fully accessible vehicles

Recommendation 9.1: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should invest in a 10-year co-contribution grant scheme to achieve a fully accessible taxi fleet by 2034, underpinned by revenue obtained from the Point to Point Transport Service Transaction Levy. The levy’s revenue and expenditure should be publicly reported each year to assure those paying it that it is being used for its stated purpose.

 

Boost access and inclusion with funding for new initiatives

Recommendation 10.1: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should invest in actions to address the shortfall in employment outcomes for people living with disability and ensure the new public sector employment target can be realised and quickly increased to deliver a population proportionate target within the term of Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031.

Recommendation 10.2: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should invest in measures to address shortfalls in access and inclusion of people living with disability in healthcare settings, including by funding an expansion of My Home Hospital, a roll out of Disability Liaison Officers in each Local Health Network, and the implementation of professional development training programs to end discrimination.

Recommendation 10.3: The 2024-25 South Australian Budget should allocate substantial dedicated funding to achieving the outcomes in the updated State Disability Inclusion Plan and provide funding for actions under the Disability Access and Inclusion Plans (DAIPs) of government agencies and councils to ensure statements of intent are fully realised in practice.

 

Improving future pre-budget submission processes

Recommendation 11.1: The South Australian Government should implement an open accessible pre-budget submission process allowing at least eight weeks for submissions to be lodged to ensure that all South Australians and organisations can provide input into the Government’s pre-budget considerations on an equal basis.

 

About us

JFA Purple Orange is an independent social profit organisation based in South Australia that undertakes systemic policy analysis and advocacy across a range of issues affecting people living with disability and their families. We also host a range of peer networks for people living with disability including people living with intellectual disability, physical and sensory disability, younger people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and people in regional South Australia. Our work is characterised by co-design and informed by a model called Citizenhood.

To discuss our 2024-25 Pre-Budget Submission in more detail, please contact Selena Maddeford, Manager - Policy & Projects, JFA Purple Orange, on (08) 8373 8394 or selenam@purpleorange.org.au