Children | Young People | Futures
Disability Discrimination
Act 1992 Review
PeakCare’s Submission to the Australian Government, Attorney-General’s Department
12 November 2025
Introduction
PeakCare welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the review of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (the Act). PeakCare acknowledges the importance of this review in upholding the rights of people with a disability and addressing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (the Disability Royal Commission). PeakCare endorses the recommendations made by the Queensland Independent Disability Advocacy Network (QIDAN) as strong advocates for Queenslanders with disability, which includes children and young people. This submission focuses on the importance of making exclusionary discipline and suspensions within educational settings a last resort and upholding the right for every young person to learn.
About PeakCare
PeakCare is a not-for-profit peak body for child and family services in Queensland, providing an independent voice representing and promoting matters of interest to the non-government sector. Across Queensland, PeakCare represents small, medium, and large local, state-wide and national non-government organisations which provide prevention and early intervention, generic, targeted, and intensive family support to children, young people, families, and communities. Member organisations also provide child protection services, foster care, kinship care and residential care for children and young people who are at risk of entry to, or who are in the statutory child protection system and youth justice systems.
A large network of associate members and supporters also subscribe to PeakCare. This includes individuals with an interest in child protection, youth justice and related services, and who are supportive of PeakCare’s policy platform around the rights and entitlements of children, young people and their families to safety, wellbeing, and equitable access to life opportunities.
PeakCare’s Submission
Research has consistently demonstrated the negative impacts of suspension and exclusion on students, including academic failure and an increased risk of school disengagement.1 The Include me, don’t exclude me (2025) report from the Queensland Child and Family Commission (QFCC) highlighted that First Nations students and students with a disability experience Student Disciplinary Absences (SDAs) at twice the rate of all students.2 Students living in care receive SDAs at more than three times the rate. Where these attributes intersect, there are further risks. For example, one in every three (33 per cent) First Nations students who live with a disability and are living in out-of-home care, received an SDA between 2018–23. These figures highlight a critical need for support over punitive measures, as suspensions exacerbate segregation, hinder learning progress, and obstruct students’ ability to integrate into the community post-education.
1 Australian Institute of Criminology. (2017). Positive associations between school suspensions and student problem behaviour: Recent Australian findings (Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice No. 531). https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/tandi531.pdf 2 Queensland Family and Child Commission (Office of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Commissioner). (2025). Include me, don’t exclude me: The experiences of children and young people who have been suspended or excluded from Queensland state schools. Queensland Government. Include me, don’t exclude me report
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As a lead organisation for Queensland’s ‘A Right to Learn Campaign’,3 PeakCare supports every child’s right to engage in the education system, we support increasing the accountability of schools and the investment in resources into teaching, not punishment. PeakCare recommends that the Act be amended to apply the Disability Royal Commission’s recommendation 7.2 to explicitly cover exclusion and suspension in addition to expulsion. This amendment to the Act would make it ‘unlawful for an educational authority to discriminate against a student by suspending or excluding them on the grounds of a student’s disability’.4
In addition, PeakCare recommends that the Act be amended to require education authorities to avoid the use of exclusionary discipline on students with a disability, unless exclusion is necessary as a last resort to avert the risk of serious harm to self or others. This recommendation is grounded in substantial evidence highlighting the detrimental effects of SDAs on students5 health, wellbeing, and educational outcomes, particularly students with disabilities and those in out-of-home care. The Disability Royal Commission found suspensions and exclusions not only reduce the time students spend in learning environments, but also significantly hinder academic performance, lower self-esteem, and disrupt long-term engagement in education.
An independent inquiry6 found in 2024, Queensland students with a disability were denied over 107,000 days of education due to suspensions. Students with a disability are twice as likely to be suspended as their peers, with one in four facing suspensions. This educational disruption has long-term impacts, including a projected income gap costing $41 million annually due to incomplete schooling. Up to 3,000 Queensland students with disabilities are expected to miss completing Year 12 each year as a result of suspensions. This disproportionately affects families as well, with parents and carers losing up to 76,000 days of work annually, amounting to $14 million in lost income.
Ensuring suspension and exclusion is used only as a last resort, coupled with appropriate and targeted investment in alternative strategies will have a positive effect on future rates of youth offending and will help keep Queensland communities and young people safe. Achieving an inclusive education system requires adapting teaching methodologies, ensuring appropriate resourcing and modifying classroom environments to ensure equitable learning opportunities for all students. We acknowledge while Student Support Plans offer valuable assistance, they are unable to meet the comprehensive and varying needs of every student. Support for teachers and schools is crucial in moving away from punitive approaches to manage students.
3 A Right to Learn. (n.d.). It’s time for Queensland to get smarter about school discipline. Retrieved November 7, 2025, from https://www.arighttolearn.com.au/ 4 Disability Royal Commission. (2023). Inclusive education, employment and housing (Final Report, Vol. 7, Pt. A, p. 170). https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/final-report-volume-7-inclusive-education-employment-and-housing 5 Australian Institute of Criminology. (2017). Positive associations between school suspensions and student problem behaviour: Recent Australian findings (Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice No. 531). https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/tandi531.pdf 6 A Right to Learn: Economic Cost of suspensions for Queensland students with disability. Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion (2024) Economic-cost-of-suspensions-for-students-with-disability-full-documentation.pdf
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Conclusion
PeakCare strongly supports legislative reform that ensures equitable education access for all students, including those with disability. Amending the Act to make suspension and exclusion on the basis of disability unlawful is a vital step toward inclusive education and the realisation of every child’s right to learn. With the right supports, training, and frameworks in place, schools can foster safer, fairer learning environments that empower all students to thrive.
Yours sincerely,
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