Australian Human Rights Commission
Submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – 25 July 2019
disability and, as a consequence, the specific needs of children with
disability are not considered.38
Recommendation 15: The Australian Government amend the Family Law Act
1975 (Cth) to require that children are provided with assistance and
accommodations to express their views in all matters that affect their
rights or interests.
Recommendation 16: Australian Governments, in conjunction with the
Office of the National Data Commissioner, develop a national children’s
data framework to ensure appropriate data collection that can be
disaggregated by a range of factors, including disability.
Recommendation 17: The Australian Government ensure children with
disability and their families are provided with adequate and appropriate
community-based supports, including through the NDIS, to prevent
institutionalisation.
4.4
Awareness raising (CRPD art 8, LOI 8)
44.
The largest number of complaints received by the Commission
consistently relate to disability discrimination. Over the last five years, 37%
of complaints have been lodged under the DDA. In 2017–2018, it was
42%.39 In June 2019 the Centre of Research and Excellence in Disability and
Health at the University of Melbourne published results from a national
survey on community attitudes towards people with Australia.40 It found
that 78% of survey participants agreed that people were unsure how to act
around people with disability and 61% of participants said people were
likely to avoid people with intellectual disability. These statistics indicate a
need for disability rights education and awareness in Australia.
45.
One of the policy directions of the NDS is to increase awareness and
acceptance of the rights of people with disability. However, there has been
limited government action and funds to promote the awareness of the
rights of people with disability.
46.
In 2011, a scoping project conducted by UNSW found that strategies with a
combination of activities at the personal (e.g. public advertising
campaigns), organisational (e.g. training) and structural levels
(e.g. legislation) were most successful in changing attitudes and
overcoming prejudice towards people with disability.41
47.
The UNSW Review of the NDS found that public awareness of the rights of
people with disability was critical to the implementation of the strategy. It
recommended that responsibilities for promoting awareness be clarified
14