Disability discrimination in education for students in rural, regional and remote areas | External submission

28 November 2025

The Disability Discrimination Act Review

Attorney-General’s Department

[Submitted via Consultation Link at Disability Discrimination Act Review – Issues Paper - Attorney-General’s Department - Citizen Space]

Re: Submission to the Review of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth)

Mid North Coast Legal Centre (MNCLC) is a program of Advocacy Law Alliance Inc. We are grateful for the opportunity to provide a submission to the Review of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth).

MNCLC is funded by the Commonwealth and NSW Governments to provide free civil law assistance to residents of the Mid North Coast of NSW. This region is one characterised by high levels of socio-economic disadvantage including people living with disabilities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, CALD communities and people reliant on Centrelink income. We deliver targeted legal assistance to people with disabilities across all our programs, but in addition to that, operate a specialist Disability Law service which assists clients across a third of NSW.

All clients of Disability Law identify as living with a disability or mental health concern. Since 1 January 2024, Disability Law has assisted 352 clients across a range of civil law problems including debts, review of government decisions, employment law and consumer law. Our

Disability Law solicitors have provided specific legal help to 73 people in relation to disability discrimination matters in this time period.

Our submission focuses on the key issue of discrimination in the education system, in particular in rural, regional and remote areas.

Our Disability Law team has been an active participant in the DDA Review Roundtable, convened by the Disability Commissioner, Rosemary Kayess
Our recommendations support those made by the DDA Review Roundtable participants, and we offer some case studies below to illustrate the issues that our clients report.
We would be delighted to provide more information to the Review process should it be of use to you. Please don’t hesitate to contact me on redacted or email redacted should you need any clarification or further information.
I confirm all case studies have been appropriately de-identified and approved for publication.
The case studies below are compiled from our client’s experiences and do not directly replicate the specific facts of any particular matter. This has been done to protect the identity of our clients.

Discrimination in Education

The predominant area of advice sought by Disability Law clients in relation to discrimination relates to students and parents’ experiences in the education system. Children as young as six years old are experiencing disciplinary outcomes that disproportionally affect them due to their experience of living with a disability. In most cases, the disciplinary outcomes relate

to behaviours that are directly the result of the child’s disability and their difficulty regulating their behaviour.

The case of Purvis v New South Wales (Department of Education & Training) (2003) 202 ALR 133 (‘Purvis’) has meant that many students have no little legal recourse where they are excluded from a school due to behaviours associated with their disability. We submit that exclusion from a school in a regional, rural or remote area has a disproportionate impact on the student due to their inability to access education at another school.

Case Study

Jack is 11 years old and in Year 5 at a school in a small rural town. He lives with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and an anxiety disorder.

Jack has difficulty regulating his behaviour particularly when experiencing challenges such as disruptions to his routines, unexpected events or challenging behaviours from other students. He has adjustments applied to his learning environments but will still exhibit difficult behaviours notwithstanding these adjustments.

Jack has been suspended on a number of occasions due to these difficult behaviours and has been told by the school that he is now facing exclusion from the school on the basis of these behaviours. The outcome of exclusion is consistent with the school’s behaviour policy.

If Jack is excluded from his school he will require home schooling as there are no other schools in the area offering enrolment within an hour’s drive of where Jack lives. His mother is concerned that exclusion from school will exacerbate Jack’s social difficulties without the opportunity to participate in education with other children his age.

Conclusion

In our view, serious consideration should be given to amend the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) to consider the relationship between disability and behaviours in the education system, the general effect of exclusion from schools for students and the disproportionate effect exclusion has on students in regional, rural and remote areas. Without amendment to the Act, there is often little legal recourse to challenge exclusion from schools, with effect that schools may not be motivated to continue to offer education to students living with disability with behavioural concerns.

Yours sincerely,

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Assistant Principal Solicitor Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre