NDIA Accountability Project

Recommendations for disability rights reform for CALD Australians

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Australian Multicultural Acton Network Inc
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ABN: 40 172 914 431 | Assn No: A06217

Mr Ravi Krishnamurthy JP
PRESIDENT
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Submission to the Review of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth)

19 August 2025

Submitted by: Ravi Krishnamurthy

Position: President, Australian Multicultural Action Network (AMAN)

Introduction

The Australian Multicultural Action Network (AMAN) welcomes the opportunity to provide input into the review of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA). As an organisation committed to the rights and wellbeing of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) Australians, including those with disability, we strongly support the need for reform to ensure that the Act remains robust, contemporary, and inclusive.

While the DDA has played an important role in promoting disability rights for over three decades, lived experiences across our networks indicate that significant gaps remain, particularly for people with disability from CALD communities, older Australians, and intersecting groups. The Act must evolve to ensure that equality, dignity, and meaningful participation are guaranteed for all Australians with disability.

Key Areas for Reform

1. Strengthening Definitions and Scope

  • The current definition of “disability” should be expanded to reflect the social model of disability and to include evolving conditions such as psychosocial disabilities, chronic illnesses, neurodiversity, and fluctuating conditions.
  • Clarify protection for people experiencing intersectional disadvantage (e.g., CALD women with disability, refugees with disability), ensuring their lived experiences are legally recognised.

2. Positive Duty to Prevent Discrimination

  • Introduce a positive duty on organisations, employers, and service providers to proactively eliminate discrimination, rather than relying solely on individuals to lodge complaints.
  • This aligns with current best practice in other discrimination laws, such as the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act.

3. Accessibility Standards and Enforcement

  • Mandate enforceable minimum accessibility standards for government services, workplaces, housing, transport, digital platforms, and emergency services.
  • Establish stronger compliance monitoring, penalties for breaches, and clear timeframes for implementation.

4. Cultural and Linguistic Accessibility

  • Require all disability-related information, complaints processes, and legal support to be available in Easy English and key community languages.
  • Recognise the specific disadvantage CALD people with disability face in navigating systems due to language barriers, stigma, and lack of culturally safe services.

5. Intersection with Other Laws and Schemes

  • Ensure the DDA interacts effectively with the NDIS Act, Aged Care Act, and Anti-Discrimination Acts to avoid fragmentation and gaps.
  • Introduce provisions to prevent restrictive practices and ensure rights-based safeguards consistent with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

6. Complaints Mechanisms and Supports

  • Simplify and streamline complaints pathways so individuals are not burdened by complex processes.
  • Provide independent advocacy and legal assistance, particularly for people from CALD backgrounds and regional areas.
  • Introduce timelines for complaint resolution to reduce stress and delays.

7. Employment Protections

  • Strengthen provisions ensuring reasonable adjustments in the workplace and impose a proactive obligation on employers to foster inclusion.
  • Include specific reference to recruitment and promotion processes, where unconscious bias against people with disability, particularly CALD migrants, is prevalent.

8. Education and Public Awareness

  • Introduce a statutory requirement for public education campaigns about disability rights, delivered in collaboration with multicultural organisations.
  • Promote awareness of both rights and responsibilities across schools, workplaces, and community settings.

9. Independent Monitoring and Accountability

  • Establish an independent Disability Rights Commissioner within the Australian Human Rights Commission with stronger enforcement powers.
  • Require annual reporting on progress towards inclusion and equality under the Act.

Recommendations

  1. Expand the definition of disability to reflect the social model, fluctuating conditions, and intersectional disadvantage.
  2. Introduce a positive duty on all organisations to proactively prevent discrimination.
  3. Strengthen accessibility standards across physical, digital, and service environments, with compliance monitoring and enforcement.
  4. Ensure cultural and linguistic accessibility in all aspects of the Act, with CALD-inclusive approaches embedded.
  5. Harmonise the DDA with related legislation, ensuring CRPD compliance.
  6. Reform complaints processes to be simple, timely, and well-supported with independent advocacy.
  7. Strengthen workplace rights with proactive employer obligations.
  8. Require education campaigns to improve community awareness and reduce stigma.
  9. Establish an independent monitoring body with enforcement and reporting powers.

Conclusion

The DDA has served as a critical foundation for protecting the rights of people with disability in Australia. However, in its current form, it does not adequately reflect contemporary understandings of disability, nor the lived realities of Australians with disability, particularly those from CALD backgrounds.

The Australian Multicultural Action Network strongly urges the Government to adopt these reforms to ensure the DDA is future-ready, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of all Australians.

We thank the Review Panel for considering this submission and welcome the opportunity to contribute further through consultations or hearings.

Sincerely,

Ravi Krishnamurthy
President, Australian Multicultural Action Network (AMAN)