Why a National Disability Strategy?
Nearly four million Australians experience long term impairment, and that number is growing. There is a significant loss to our society if these Australians are unable to fulfil their potential and fully participate in their communities because of barriers and discrimination. The barriers can be physical, such as access to buildings, transport and information but also attitudinal due to a lack of awareness of disability issues. The causes of this exclusion are varied but the effects are disabling and the costs to individuals, families and the community is high.
The good news is that improvements in long term care and rehabilitation of people with disability has resulted in a generation of people with disability living into old age. However, despite these improvements in life span, Australians with disability are more likely to live in poverty, to have fewer educational qualifications, to be out of work, and experience more prejudice and abuse than Australians without disability.
Commitment to change
The Australian Government’s election commitment to implement a National Disability Strategy (the Strategy) recognised the need for a new whole-of-government, whole-of-life approach to disability issues which tackles the social and economic divide between people with disability and those without. The National Disability Strategy is an important element of the government’s commitment to promoting social inclusion for all Australians.
The government’s recent ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the Convention) reflects the government’s commitment to the rights of people with disability. The National Disability Strategy will be an important mechanism to ensure that the principles underpinning the Convention are incorporated into policies and programs affecting people with disability, their families and carers.
A National Disability Strategy was one of the key recommendations of the 2007 Senate Inquiry into the Commonwealth, State and Territory Disability Agreement (CSTDA). The CSTDA report highlighted the need for a coordinated, high level, strategic policy to address the complexity of needs of people with disability, their families and carers in all aspects of their lives.
In February 2008 the Commonwealth, State and Territory Disability Ministers met in Melbourne and acknowledged the development of the National Disability Strategy as “an historic opportunity for the Commonwealth, States and Territories to work together with the community to ensure the needs of people with disability and their families are addressed through coordinated and comprehensive policy planning - across all government departments and services.”1
The Strategy will build on the 30 May 2008 agreement between the Australian Government and States and Territories to deliver a $1.8 billion funding boost to disability support services across Australia.
This $1.8 billion will deliver more than 24,500 additional disability places including:
- Approximately 2,300 in-home support services
- 2,300 supported accommodation places
- 9,900 individual support packages, and
- 10,000 much needed respite places in a range of forms across Australia.
This important agreement is on top of the $100 million in capital funding announced by the Prime Minister on 4 May 2008 which will build new facilities to deliver over 300 new supported accommodation places across Australia.
The Australian Government and States and Territories also agreed on 23 July 2008 to establish a new National Disability Reform Agenda that will place people with disability, their families and carers at the centre of services across Australia.
The National Disability Reform Agenda will drive reform in the key areas of:
- Service benchmarks
- Disability services’ quality standards
- Service planning
- Building people centred service delivery
- Early intervention and prevention
- Workforce capacity
- National consistency
- Ageing carers
Australians and disability
Australians with disability are a diverse group of people. They include people who were born with disability and those who acquire disability during their life through accident, ageing or illness. The ageing of the Australian population and its increased longevity are leading to increasing numbers of people with disability with a severe or profound limitation.
In 2003 there were an estimated 3.9 million people with disability in Australia. Of these, 2.6 million were under 65 years of age (15 per cent of that population). Among the 3.9 million people with disability, 1.2 million people sometimes or always needed help or supervision with self-care, mobility or communication. Of these, nearly 700,000 were aged less than 65 years. 2
The projected growth from 2006 to 2010 in the working-age population (15-64 years) with a severe or profound limitation is 6.9 per cent or 37,500 people by 2010.3
The prevalence of disability among Indigenous Australians is higher than for other Australians at all ages, and rates of severe disability are at least twice as high.4 In 2002, 102,900 (37 per cent) of Indigenous Australians aged 15 years or older had disability or a long-term health condition. Of these, 21,800 or 8 per cent of the Indigenous population aged 15 years or older, had a severe or profound limitation.5
Unpaid carers are the main providers of assistance to people with disability. Around 2.6 million carers in Australia provided unpaid assistance to people with disability or the aged in 2003. About 473,000 (20 per cent) of these carers identified as the primary carer, and of these 187,500 (40 per cent) had a disability themselves. Most primary carers (71 per cent) are women. The ratio of informal carers to the number of people with disability is projected to fall.6
Recent research has identified that carers and families of people with disability experience high rates of mental health problems, poorer physical health, employment restrictions, financial hardship and relationship breakdown.7
Disability inequality in Australia
“… disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.” Preamble United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Compared to Australians without disability, people with disability are more likely to live in poverty, to have fewer educational qualifications, to be out of work and experience inequality.
| Measure | People with disability | People without disability |
|---|---|---|
| Complete year 12 | 30% | 49% |
| Left school year 8 or younger | 16% | 5% |
| Complete a diploma or higher qualification | 14% | 28% |
| Complete a bachelor degree | 13% | 20% |
| Labour force participation | 53% | 81% |
| Income through wage | 35% | 63% |
| Receive government pension or allowance | 43% | 14% |
| Home owners with mortgage | 33% | 43% |
| Live in public housing | 7% | 2% |
| Unemployment rate | 9% | 5% |
| Gross median weekly income | $255 | $501 |
Data Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Disability, Ageing and Carers; summary of findings, Australia, 2003
Multiple disadvantage can be experienced by people with disability. Other factors besides disability that affect people’s quality of life and participation include geographic location, age, gender, cultural and linguistic background, and Indigenous status.
These poorer outcomes for people with disability are not inevitable or unable to be changed. Other countries have demonstrated that significant improvements can be made.
- Communiqué, Special meeting of Disability Ministers, Melbourne, Friday 1 February 2008.
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australia’s Welfare, 2007.
- ibid.
- ibid.
- ibid.
- ibid.
- Australian Institute of Family Studies, The nature and impact of caring for family members with a disability in Australia, Research Report No 16, 2008.