Disability advocates’ wishlist for incoming Federal government.

Speaker 1 00:00

As we enter the last week of the Federal Election Campaign, early voting centers are now open with major parties and smaller candidates alike, hoping to convince Australians their fit for the top job. Australians with disabilities are more engaged than ever, hoping the incoming government focuses more on issues within the sector. Powered media's Emma Myers spoke with disability advocates to hear more about their hopes and expectations.

Emma Myers 00:26

El Gibbs, CEO of Disability Advocacy Network Australia, says there is a critical need for improved housing rights for individuals with disabilities, particularly those in private rentals and specialist disability accommodation. 

El Gibbs 00:47

It's really important that there is a more rights to being able to make kind of modifications at home if you're a private renter. There is no mandated right to home modifications in private rental, and we do need that kind of basic move in tenancy protections, but we also need tenancy protections in group homes, for example. So if you're a person with disability who lives in specialist disability accommodation, you often don't even have basic tenancy rights. So even though tenancy rights aren't great, lots of people with disability don't even have those. So even though some of the basic rights that people in the community are pretty cross about, we don't even have those a lot of the time. And there is a degree where we urgently need an increased supply of public and social housing. Now we have virtually no accessible housing in regional areas. We're at this really basic level in terms of housing. The conversations that we've just had where both major parties made very large announcements about buying homes and government support for that, I think the combination was $20 billion and there wasn't a cent in there for that really basic, affordable, social housing and accessible housing for the poorest disabled people among communities.

Emma Myers 02:08

Stephanie Dower is the director, producer and access coordinator. She believes a proactive approach to inclusive design is vital to avoiding ongoing accessibility issues in new buildings and the infrastructure 

Stephanie Dower  02:28

The NDIS has been literally life changing, like it has allowed me to have a greater career. It's allowed me to travel for work, it's allowed me to be independent. It's allowed me to have proper relationships with my parents and my sibling, but I fear the rugs just going to be pulled out from underneath me at any time. I want a clear commitment from the government that the NRS is not going anywhere. But I think in terms of what else I want, I see new buildings get built and they're not accessible. I see new infrastructure be put in place, and it's not fully accessible. I understand retrofitting things that have been done way in the past is not always the cheapest option. But moving forward, let's be proactive about working access into our society from the get go, and not have to think, oh, we just spent all this money on this new train and oh, we need to then go back and fix it. Let's get it right from the start.

Emma Myers 03:25

Graeme Innes is the lawyer university chancellor and former Disability Discrimination Commissioner. He says the government must update disability discrimination laws to better reflect modern sensibilities. 

Graeme Innes 3 03:43

We're lacking an up to date disability discrimination legislation, so we need to address that. And I talked about the importance of the government, who've indicated they will do that if they win the next election. We need to make the NDIS sustainable. It's doing a fantastic job for the people that are on the scheme, but only 10% of people with disabilities were ever intended to be supported by the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The other 90% need to be supported by the general systems in the community, which are largely, not entirely, but largely, run by state governments. And state governments have sort of walked away from their responsibilities a bit since the NDIS came in. And as I say, better discrimination legislation needs to be brought into effect, so that if people, either state governments, local governments or community services are not adequate for people with disabilities, then we will have a piece of law which allows us to rectify that situation. 

Emma Myers 04:42

James Manders is chair of the radio reading network and currently a member of the independent advisory council for the NDIS. He says Australia needs to move beyond divisive labeling in order to reckon. Provides the unique contributions of individuals.

James Manders 05:04

We need more inclusion. If we've got to think outside the box, we've got to have that. I call it lateral thinking, about how can we reshape and inform and improve? So I think full inclusion is very important. It does take time to get to that. But the rewards, I think, are immense, and dei sadly, become an ideological label. I think, once you understand how individuals, how they contribute and participate in everyday life, that makes a difference, people that have different ways of doing things, we've got to embrace that independence, that individuality. 

Speaker 1 05:41

Chair of radio reading network, James Manders there, speaking with Powerd Media's Emma Myers.