Projects

Regulatory review for disability inclusion

Client.
NSW Department of Communities and Justice
Services
Review, Design, Policy

A stakeholder-informed regulatory review to assess the ongoing need for an Act.

01.
Client issue

The NSW Disability Inclusion Act 2014 is a statement in legislation of the rights of people with disability. It creates a framework to support people with disability to be independent. It also sets requirements for all NSW Government agencies and local councils to prepare Disability Inclusion Action Plans.

The Act required an automatic review after five years to determine whether the policy objectives remained valid and whether the Act was still an effective mechanism for achieving those objectives. The Department wanted to consult with people with disability to explore these questions.

The operating environment had changed significantly since the making of the Act. The NDIS had been rolled out, changing the way services were funded and provided. There was a Royal Commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability underway, raising issues of community importance.

02.
Our approach

The review included six key steps

  • Review questions. We confirmed the questions for the review to ensure that the scope and intent was appropriate
  • Current position. We worked with the Department to confirm the current position, including assessing the impact of the changes in the operating context
  • Brief position paper. We prepared a brief position paper covering key issues. Stakeholders had expressed their views about some issues in other recent forums (e.g. submissions to the Royal Commission, public statements). We included a summary of those positions to test in the consultations. This supported stakeholders in feeling heard. It also meant that issues that had previously been raised did not need to be covered in consultation unless there was new information or circumstances had changed.
  • Design and deliver consultation. We prepared a consultation plan that combined a survey via ‘Have your say’ with community consultation and targeted engagement with stakeholder peaks. The community consultation involved seven face-to-face sessions, including one session for people with intellectual disability (delivered by the Council for Intellectual Disability) and two sessions for Aboriginal people with disability and their carers (in partnership with an Aboriginal facilitator). Consultation material included easy read versions. Auslan interpreters were present for participants who used sign language.
  • Summarise the outputs of the consultation. An outputs report integrated the input from the survey responses, direct submissions, comments from the face-to-face sessions as well as input from across Government that the team in DCJ coordinated
  • Prepare the review report. Policy analysis of the issues arising from consultation and other major changes to make findings about the continued relevance of the Act. This included an analysis of suggested changes in response to stakeholder comments.

03.
Result

The review found that two of the core objectives of the Act (recognise human rights and provide support for inclusion and improvement in the lives of people with disability) were still valid, and were recommended to be continued with minor amendments. A third objective relating to transitional arrangements for the NDIS was no longer relevant and recommended to be deleted.

Stakeholders were primarily concerned with how the Act had been implemented, particularly the quality of Disability Inclusion Action Plans. The review made recommendations for how to improve the implementation (noting that this did not require legislative changes) and improve the guidance for what constituted a good Plan.

The output of the project was a report to Parliament that was also used as the basis for briefing instructions for the remaking of the Act with minor amendments.

04.
Key learnings

  • People with disability are motivated to have input into the systems and processes that have an impact on their lives, and provide important input when given the appropriate opportunity.
  • The needs of different stakeholder groups can be accommodated effectively into consultation design
  • Playing back to stakeholders a summary of their previous submissions was perceived as respectful, and helped move the conversation to a future focus, which enabled a more fruitful conversation in the consultation sessions.