The Act hasn’t changed much in over 30 years.

But the way we support people with disability has changed.

In 2008 we signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Some people call it the CRPD.

In this paper we call it the UN Convention.

The UN Convention is an agreement between different countries.

The UN Convention explains how people must treat people with disability:

• fairly
• equally.

Australia is also creating plans and programs to support people with disability across the country.

We made Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031 (the Strategy).

The Strategy is a plan to support people with disability in all areas of their life.

We also made the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

The NDIS provides services and support to people with disability.

We want to make sure the new Act works well with:

• the Strategy

• the NDIS

• the UN Convention.

We heard from the community about what they thought should be in the new Act.

This happened between November 2022 and February 2023.

You can learn more about how the community shared what they thought on our website.

www.engage.dss.gov.au/a-new-act-to-replace-the-disability-services-act-1986

We wrote a draft of the new Act based on what they told us.

A draft is a document that isn’t finished.

Some things in a draft might change later.

Other people check a draft before they publish it.

You can read the draft on our website.

engage.dss.gov.au/disability-services-and-inclusion-bill-draft-exposure-consultation-consultation-material#exposure-draft

We want to know what you think about our draft of the new Act.

What you tell us will help us change our draft.

In this paper we explain what we included in the draft.

We also explain how to tell us what you think.

Together we can make sure the new Act does a good job at supporting people with disability.