Australian Human Rights Commission
Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee, 18 September 2017
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/IndefiniteDete
ntion45/Report (viewed 14 September 2017).
54 Australian Government Department of Social Services, Australian Government response to the
Senate Community Affairs References Committee report: Violence, abuse and neglect against people
with disability in institutional and residential settings, including the gender and age related dimensions,
and the particular situation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability, and culturally
and linguistically diverse people with disability (2017). At https://www.dss.gov.au/disability-andcarers/publications-articles/general/australian-government-response-violence-abuse-neglect-againstpeople-with-disability (viewed 11 September 2017).
55 Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs, Parliament of Australia, Violence, abuse and
neglect against people with disability in institutional and residential settings, At
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Violence_abu
se_neglect (viewed 11 September 2017).
56 Australian Human Rights Commission, Shaping our future: discussions on disability rights (2017). At
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/disability-rights/projects/shaping-our-future-discussionsdisability-rights (viewed 11 September 2017).
57 The Commission notes that the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s report on the
outcomes of its statutory review of the television captioning requirements in the Broadcasting Services
Act 1992 by 30 June 2017. At https://www.acma.gov.au/-/media/Content-Projects-andPolicy/Information/pdf/ACMA-captioning-report_April2017-pdf.pdf?la=en (viewed 11 September 2017).
The Commission also welcomes the recently announced audio description working group that will look
at ways to facilitate greater access to information and new for people who are blind and people with
low vision. See Australian Government Department of Communications and the Arts, Accessible
Television (2017). At https://www.communications.gov.au/what-we-do/television/accessible_television
(viewed 11 September 2017).
58 In the 2016 Federal Election, a man who was a wheelchair user was unable to enter the only prepolling place in Wollongong to vote, and instead had to vote outside under the supervision of an
Australian Electoral Commission official. See Ben Langford, Wollongong man in wheelchair forced to
vote in the street as polling place not accessible (2016). At
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/3999846/vote-access-a-step-too-far/ (viewed 11 September
2017).
59 Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth), s 93(8)(a), 118(4). See also Parliamentary Electorates and
Elections Act 1912 (NSW) s 25(a); Electoral Act 1907 (WA) s 18(1)(a); Electoral Act 1985 (SA) s
29(1)(iv).
60 Australian Law Reform Commission, Equality, Capacity and Disability in Commonwealth Laws
(2014). At https://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/equality-capacity-disability-report-124 (viewed 11
September 2017).
61 Australian Human Rights Commission, Shaping our future: discussions on disability rights (2017). At
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/disability-rights/projects/shaping-our-future-discussionsdisability-rights (viewed 11 September 2017); Australian Human Rights Commission, A Conversation
in Gender Equality (2017). At http://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sexdiscrimination/publications/conversation-gender-equality-2017 (viewed 11 September 2017).
62 Australian Government Department of Social Services, Third Action Plan 2016-19 of the National
Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children 2010-2022 (2016). At
https://www.dss.gov.au/women/programs-services/reducing-violence/third-action-plan (viewed 11
September 2017).
63 Stop the Violence Project, Stop the Violence: Addressing Violence against Women and Girls with
Disabilities in Australia: Discussion Paper (2013). All STVP reports are available at:
http://www.stvp.org.au/National-Symposium.htm (viewed 14 September 2017). The outcomes and
recommendations of the Stop the Violence Project are outlined in Stop the Violence Project, Report of
the Proceedings and Outcomes: National Symposium on Violence against Women and Girls with
Disabilities (2013), 22-30. At http://wwda.org.au/wpcontent/uploads/2013/12/STV_Outcomes_Paper.pdf (viewed 14 September 2017). See also Stop the
Violence Project, Resource Compendium: Key Principles for Good Practice in Service Delivery and
Key principles for good practice in policy development and service modelling. At
http://www.stvp.org.au/Resource-Compendium.html (viewed 14 September 2017).
64 Such as violence in institutions and residential settings, sexual and reproductive rights violations,
including forced sterilisation and forced abortion, restrictive practices, seclusion and restraint. See
Carolyn Frohmader, Violence Against Women with Disabilities (2014). At https://www.pwd.org.au/
documents/temp/FS_Violence_WWD's.pdf (viewed 11 September 2017).
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