Mr Peter Rundle MLA
Chair
Community Development and Justice Standing Committee
Email: lacdjsc@parliament.wa.gov.au
Dear Mr Rundle
Disability Assembly WA Submission
Inquiry into the guardianship and administration system in Western Australia
Thank you for the opportunity to provide a submission to the inquiry into the guardianship and administration system in Western Australia (WA). Disability Assembly WA (DAWA) welcomes the inquiry and is pleased to share its insights through the collective voice of people with lived experience of disability and their families and carers.
DAWA is an independent lived-experience, whole of disability led movement with a clear vision: to unify, support, and champion WA’s disability ecosystem so people with disability, their families, and carers can experience world-class outcomes. At the heart of our work is the DAWA Spirit: speaking up, collaborating, being courageous and bold and we proudly get things done. We take pride in turning lived-experience leadership into real action and real outcomes.
DAWA is widely recognised for creating safe, inclusive spaces where the entire WA disability ecosystem comes together. Our submission draws heavily on insights from our Summits and Network events which bring families, carers, service providers, advocates, community and government into the same room to discuss issues, solve problems, and share ideas and solutions in an ever-changing disability landscape.
With the recent National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) reform announcements that will see some people with disability receive less or no support, there is now more than ever a critical urgency for State government and their systems to do better. People with disability and their families are at greater risk than ever before – change needs to happen now.
Issues and Recommendations
Guardianship and administration system is under-resourced to meet current and future demand.
There has been an ongoing increase in unmet demand for guardianship and administrative services for people with disability and their families and carers over a long period of time and this will continue. The NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS
for Future Generations) Bill introduced by the Commonwealth government in May 2026, in its current form could place additional demand on the State’s guardianship system.
WA also has an ageing population with “Baby Boomer” parents/carers now in their seventies and eighties having carried primary responsibility for safeguarding, advocacy and daily decision making for their adult sons and daughters. The demographic reality is that hundreds of families are approaching the transition point for which the guardianship and administrative systems have not planned nor prepared for. The incidence of carer burnout, with carers being at a point of physical and/or emotional exhaustion and no longer able to care for the person with disability is also increasing and putting further strain on a system which is unable to respond appropriately to what are often crisis situations.
Furthermore, the complexity of disability supports that is exacerbated by NDIS interface failures such as who will fund what supports, and when and how this will happen, is putting further pressure on families who feel they can no longer cope and are turning to a guardianship and administrative system that has limited capacity.
Recommendations
- Comprehensive workforce plan across the guardianship and administrative system be developed and implemented based on current and future demand.
- Substantial increase in long-term funding invested in human resources to effectively respond in a timely manner to the rising demand.
- Identify, fund and implement enhancements to internal backend systems to create efficiencies that improve response times.
Unnecessary guardianship orders because planning is left too late and system failures are the cause of the risk, not capacity of the family.
Families and service providers report that families are being left to care until they no longer can, which ultimately results in defaulting to more formal, substitute decision-making arrangements rather than Office of the Public Advocate (OPA) intervening much earlier and supporting comprehensive, person-centred planning and building relational safeguards and supports with families.
As recommended by the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, decision-making supports need to be provided to families before any guardianship or administration order is considered. More investment across the system, taking a human rights approach to support robust, early and sustainable planning is required and will reduce the need for formal arrangements.
The lives of people with disability and their families are complex and require them to deal and work with multiple agencies over what can be their entire lifetime. When one of these agencies fails to deliver, it is the family who suffer and the broader system that is meant to wrap around them becomes fragmented and ineffective.
There needs to be greater oversight and accountability by agencies to deliver what they are mandated to do.
Recommendations
- The availability and type of decision-making supports to families be expanded upon and adequately funded.
- OPA be given a stronger mandate to intervene earlier to prevent guardianship where agency system failures are the cause of risk for people with disability.
- Whole of government, robust and rigorous mechanisms be introduced to hold all service systems accountable where part of system’s inaction or withdrawal is pushing people into guardianship unnecessarily.
Lack of interagency collaboration and information sharing.
Achieving improved outcomes for families is contingent on agencies sharing relevant information and proactively collaborating in the best interests of the family to achieve mutually agreed goals. Interagency collaboration with families, at its best drives innovation, flexibility, efficiencies, faster results, better practice and most importantly better outcomes for families.
OPA’s effectiveness is reliant on collaboration with the family from human service agencies in health, mental health, disability, housing, justice, police, child protection and education. Too often, not all agencies put the family at the centre and don’t work together, leading to system fragmentation. For families this results in a lack of progress, confusion and anxiety about which agencies are supporting them and what they will actually do to support them. For OPA, it requires greater time and effort attempting to steer recalcitrant agency staff to come to the table and do their job.
Improving transparency around how families are supported in practice is important. Providing clear, accessible evidence of supports delivered, decisions made, and outcomes achieved will enhance accountability, build trust with families, and promote a more coordinated, person-centred approach to care across all agencies.
Recommendations
- Through Chief Executive Officer agreements or legislation formalise:
- Requirements of agencies to share information
- Clearly defined escalation pathways when agencies fail to act
- A defined timeframe for agencies to respond to OPA inquiries.
System gaps and cost-shifting between NDIS and State systems
People with lived experience receiving NDIS funded supports report that OPA and the NDIS can have conflicting positions on guardianship orders. OPA tends to default to the least restrictive approach while the NDIA defaults to recommending guardianship. This results in families falling through the gaps leaving them confused, vulnerable, anxious and unsupported.
OPA is increasingly being drawn into these situations, where the system gap is caused because the Commonwealth government assumes the State government will take responsibility. This in turn, increases the load on State systems such as health where hospitalisation becomes the only solution for care. This cost-shifting leaves people with disability at greater risk, puts enormous pressure on families and carers and increases the burden on an already overloaded guardianship pathway.
Recommendations
- OPA be empowered and resourced to identify, escalate and report systemic gaps and cost-shifting that places NDIS participants at risk.
- The State and Commonwealth governments work together to resolve cost-shifting issues at a system level rather than on an ad hoc case by case basis that is burdensome and time-consuming for time poor families, service providers and public servants.
Limited culturally appropriate supports for First Nations people in rural and remote areas of Western Australia
The guardianship and administrative system does not fully align with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of indigenous people.
DAWA members report that many First Nations people with disability living in regional and remote WA and receiving NDIS supports have OPA appointed guardians who have high caseloads and are usually based in Perth. First Nations families report that they often receive only one visit a year from the guardian and sometimes not at all. This is deeply concerning as guardians are making decisions about a First Nations person with disability and their family without having a fulsome understanding of their local cultural context such as connection to country and community obligations.
First Nations families and carers also report that information publicly available about the role of the guardian and Public Trustee is difficult to understand. More culturally appropriate information would help build the capacity of First Nations families to make informed decisions about a family member taking on the role of guardian and in turn increase local, place-based guardianship.
Recommendations
- Develop, fund and implement a culturally appropriate education campaign to increase knowledge, understanding and capacity of regional and remote First Nations families and carers to meaningfully participate in the guardianship and administrative system.
- Provide the necessary funding for Perth-based guardians to regularly visit regional and remote First Nations people with disability on country leading to culturally informed and effective decision-making.
The guardianship and administration system requires improved accessibility and inclusion.
The WA State Disability Strategy sets the foundation to protect, uphold and advance the rights of over 500,000 people with disability living in WA. Its vision is for people with disability, and those who share their lives to be engaged and empowered to live as they choose where everyone belongs. Inherent in this is services, systems, workplaces and environments being accessible and welcoming for everyone.
The overwhelming response from families is that they face barriers and challenges in accessing and being included in the guardianship and administrative system. As a result, they are hesitant about engaging with the system. They report processes are complicated and they want simple information and a ‘person’ they can talk to who will explain things and support them if they have questions.
The system needs to be able to better identify people who may need support, the type of support they need and then actually provide the support to ensure meaningful participation. In developing a suite of support options, it is critical to engage in genuine codesign with people with disability to fully understand where their current barriers and challenges are and the best ways they can be overcome.
Recommendations
- Develop a range of supports for people with disability and their families that will make it easier to navigate a person-centred guardianship and administrative system.
- Provide the necessary funding to implement a range of options to make the guardianship and administrative system accessible and inclusive of everyone.
Adopting the recommendations outlined above will align the WA guardianship and administrative system with its obligations under the United Nation Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Australia’s Disability Strategy and our State Disability Strategy.
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this important inquiry. We would be pleased to provide any further information that may assist the Committee.
Yours sincerely
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Julie Waylen Chairperson Disability Assembly WA
28 May 2026