Home | Disability Advocacy Network Australia

Voting, accessibility and supports

With the Federal Election fast approaching, here are some useful resources and information sources about accessibility and voting, from the Australian Electoral Commission and other bodies.

National Disability Advocacy Program funding announcement

On Thursday 7 April, a media release from Senator Anne Ruston (Minister for Families and Social Services) and Senator Linda Reynolds (Minister for the NDIS) announced “$100 million to uphold the rights of people with disability” in the form of continued funding for the National Disability Advocacy Program. Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) chief executive Mary Mallett welcomed the Government’s continued investment in disability advocacy, including an increase to organisations delivering NDIS Appeals. However, she also questioned whether the additional funding would be sufficient given the rising demand for appeals advocacy.

Disability Sector Calls for Pre-Election Commitments to Improve Disability Emergency and Disaster Support

A coalition of 40 leading disability rights, advocacy and peak body organisations has endorsed a pre-election open letter to politicians across the country demanding a new approach and more resources for improving disaster and emergency responses for people with disability.

In the wake of two years of rolling calamities, the letter outlines a series of key outcomes being sought by the disability sector to develop planning, programs and services that will better prioritise the needs of people with disability during floods, bushfires, cyclones, droughts and pandemics.

Read the latest DANA eNews – March 2022

This edition of DANA’s eNews is packed full of the latest news about advocacy, the NDIS, COVID-19 tests and vaccinations, and the Disability Royal Commission, plus current events, inquiries, consultations, and new resources.

Help spread the word – Change starts with your story

People with disability, their family, supporters and advocates can share experiences of violence, neglect, abuse or exploitation with the Disability Royal Commission. Here are some useful resources to remind your networks that 2022 is the final year for people to share their stories, and how many small submissions add up to one big story!

Disability Sector Urges No Vote From MPs On Religious Discrimination Bill

Australia’s peak disability organisations have released a statement expressing deep concern about the impact on people with disability of the new Religious Discrimination Bill which will be debated in Parliament tomorrow.

In the statement – which calls on MPs to vote against the Bill – the groups express particular concern with provisions permitting ‘statements of belief’ to override existing legal and policy protections for people with disability from humiliating, insulting, ridiculing and demeaning behaviour and gives licence to an increase in such behaviour towards people with disability, undermining our confidence and sense of worth as Australians.