Written by Jeremy Muir – PDA’s CEO
After a significant number of re-writes, refining and researching, the fabulous Sarah McInnes and I, on behalf of PDA, have completed our submission on the review of the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) (1992).
After finalising our 39-page document and wondering what it meant, who was going to read it and how much impact it would have, I became side-tracked.
The first issue that caught my attention was a post showing Senator Jordan Steele-John debating with the staff from the Department of Public Administration around accessibility at Parliament House in Canberra. The stonewalling of improving access due to ‘feasibility’ is unbelievable. I can’t help wondering if Australia’s bastion to democracy, the place where our human rights are supposed to be upheld determines that access for all has to pass a ‘feasibility’ test before consideration, what example is being set. I’m not filled with confidence that once the DDA undergoes a makeover, it will finally become the tool that stops discrimination with a ‘no-excuse’ mandate. Those of us who remember writing submissions for the first round of DDA standards back in the 90’s, witnessed a failure of willingness by government to provide a true instrument of change. This cannot happen again.
The second distraction came from my own musings. I can’t help wondering that as a nation, and as a country we not alone in this, but in 2025 we have not become sophisticated enough to realise that we shouldn’t need a DDA, nor a sex discrimination act, nor a racial discrimination act. Acts that are supposed to protect and uphold human rights. Perhaps, as a nation, we should have started with a human rights act that was for ALL Australians, and, if it had been necessary, added elements that clearly indicated that acts of discrimination were just not permissible. Not a feasibility test in sight.
There was a third distraction, and I promise this will be the last. As the CEO of PDA, this morning I received the Disability Sector Update from NDIA. This update gives information about all things NDIS/NDIA related. One of updates indicated that the NDIA, as a workplace had released its Gender Equity Action Plan. The update states “This Plan is part of our ongoing efforts to make our workplaces welcoming, safe and inclusive for everyone.
Gender equity benefits everyone. Gender equity is when all genders are treated: fairly, equally, with respect.” Well, what is interesting about this piece of information is, Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA) has been seeking clarification regarding the pausing of the NDIS Gender Strategy, with the agency indicating they would be introducing a set of ‘inclusion principles’ instead. You see where I’m going with this. The agency rightly believes that there is a need for a Gender Equity Action Plan, but NDIS participants don’t deserve the same consideration. Curious.
