With the opportunity to lodge submissions to the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme’s inquiry into general issues around the implementation and performance of the NDIS, we take the opportunity to highlight two recently released reports on issues facing people with disability in Australia. The First Peoples Disability Network Australia has released a report following a two-year community-directed research project on the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability. Among key findings are that disability in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is twice as prevalent and more complex in terms of co-occurring disabilities, and that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability experience a unique form of ‘intersectional discrimination’ and social inequality that is acute and pervasive across all support systems. The Australian Human Rights Commission has published a report examining how to prevent and address violence against people with disability in institutional settings. The report identifies six essential elements for safeguarding and oversight mechanisms to support the rights of people with disability, and offers four recommendations for government and the NDIS Commission, including increasing collaboration and the amount publicly available information regarding the operation of current and future quality, safeguarding and oversight mechanisms. The objective of the parliamentary inquiry into NDIS is to identify broad, systemic and recurrent issues relating to implementation and operation and offer recommendations to improve the operation of the NDIS, so if you have an issue to raise or an idea – make a submission.
