Health & Medicine
It's time to improve employment for Australians with disability
Now is the time to get disability human rights into Australian anti-discrimination law
Two major opportunities for reform of the Disability Discrimination Act have been overlooked, including being respected as decision-makers on an equal basis as others and discriminatory migration practices
Published 17 October 2025
A review of the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) is currently underway, and with it comes the promise of important reforms.
Between 2019 and 2023, the Disability Royal Commission received almost 8,000 submissions, nearly 18,000 phone enquiries, and thousands of hours of testimony from people with disabilities, calling for stronger laws, greater accountability and reforms that deliver meaningful change.
Creating a robust Disability Discrimination Act
The Commission’s findings exposed significant gaps in the DDA.
Closing gaps in the DDA is a must if people with disability are to have an equitable experience in Australia.
The Australian Human Rights Commission receives more complaints about DDA breaches than any other anti-discrimination legislation under its jurisdiction (the others being related to race, sex and age discrimination).
And yet, in an almost 100-page issues paper from the Attorney-General’s office – which details areas the government seeks to address in the DDA review – significant opportunities for reform have been overlooked.
This is particularly in two key areas concerning people with disability being respected as decision-makers on an equal basis with others, and addressing discriminatory migration practices.
Australia remains a leader in disability rights, but not across the board. Without addressing the experience of discrimination in decision-making and migration systems, we still risk failing to meet our obligations under the CRPD.
A robust Disability Discrimination Act enables people with disability to speak out, lead change, and be supported by a legal system that holds discrimination to account.
Respecting people with disability as decision-makers on an equal basis
Since the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was adopted in 2008, Australia has been at the forefront of considering how to recognise and implement through law, the right of people with disability to be respected as decision-makers on an equal basis with others.
This leadership is apparent in the 2014 Australian Law Reform Commission report Equality, Capacity and Disability in Commonwealth Laws.
The NDIS legislation recognises that people with disability have the “capacity to determine their own best interests and make decisions that affect their own lives”, and the Disability Royal Commission’s detailed work and recommendations in this area.
It is therefore surprising to see that the topic is absent from the DDA review.
The review is an incredible opportunity to strengthen protections that prevent discrimination and require employers, retailers, banking and other institutions to make reasonable adjustments to support people with disability to make decisions about their own lives.
If these protections were included in the DDA, they would implement Australia’s obligations to recognise people with disability’s legal capacity under CRPD article 12.
In practical terms, these protections would ensure people with disability could not be refused services like banking. They would ensure their right to self-determination, for example, when seeking healthcare services.
Politics & Society
Researching disability
The DDA review is looking to further integrate Australia’s obligations under the CRPD to ensure the rights of people with disability. The CRPD Committee’s first general comment demonstrates how fundamental a person’s right to make decisions is to realising human rights.
Now is the perfect time to embed a fundamental human right into law.
Incorporating a clause in the DDA preventing discrimination in decision-making and providing for reasonable adjustments would be consistent with national, state and territory laws that have already integrated this important clause from the CRPD.
Removing or amending the migration exemptions against people with disability
Section 52 of the DDA currently allows an exemption in relation to the Migration Act, which permits the refusal of a visa on health grounds.
Campaigns by Welcoming Disability and the National Ethnic Disability Alliance have uncovered many stories of injustices by highlighting the real-life impact of this discrimination.
In 2004, the Productivity Commission recommended narrowing this exemption (Recommendation 12.3), and an extensive inquiry in 2010 by the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Migration recommended multiple reforms to make migration fairer and more equitable for people with disability.
The Council Assisting the Disability Royal Commission recommended the repeal of the DDA exemptions related to migration, citing harsh criticism from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee).
Yet, the final report of the Royal Commission highlighted the lack of “evidence about the consequences of a repeal”. It was noted, however, that the Australian government is “willing to participate in consultation processes regarding proposed changes” (p.355).
Since then, we’ve seen a much narrower government review into the Migration Act exemption than that recommended by the Disability Royal Commission. The 2024 review focused solely on the Migration Health Requirement and Australia’s visa Significant Cost Threshold.
The adoption of some of the review’s recommendations has led to positive changes, especially for children with disability born in Australia to parents on temporary visas.
Nonetheless, we still see unjust and disproportionate outcomes from this exemption, which is intended to protect the Australian health and social welfare systems.
This was evident in the case of Sherlock v Australia where an Irish national was denied a temporary work visa despite offering to cover their own medical expenses.
In this case, the CRPD Committee found Australia in breach of human rights law and recommended that Australia remove barriers to people with disability to enable them to utilise “immigration proceedings on an equal basis with others” [9(b)].
Complete removal of the Migration Act exemption, or a significant narrowing of the exemption, is needed to create greater fairness in the system to ensure that people with disability and their families experience less disability-related discrimination in migration processes.
The DDA review is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. We must not squander this rare chance to strengthen legal protections for people with disability.
For an opportunity to engage with issues around the DDA review, join the upcoming event: The Disability Discrimination Act: Rights, Realities and the Road Ahead