Author: Tania Smith

Joint Statement – Social Security and Other Leg. Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2025

We are deeply concerned by the schedule 5 amendment to the Social Security and Other Legislative Amendments (Technical Change No 2) Bill 2025 that gives police new powers to advise the government to stop a person’s Centrelink payment.

Stopping a person’s payment before any court process has occurred risks leaving people without income, housing or essentials, and undermines the presumption of innocence that underpins our justice system.

The Disability Royal Commission demonstrated that people with disability disproportionately experience high rates of contact with the criminal justice system, reflecting the broader criminalisation of disability and the lack of appropriate social, health and community supports. Commissioners also documented the significant barriers that our communities face when dealing with police, courts, and other parts of the justice system. These findings show that even within a system designed to uphold due process, people with disability are often denied justice when their rights and needs are not properly understood or accommodated.

We are also deeply concerned that communities traditionally over-policed and disadvantaged, including First Nations people with disability, would be at heightened risk under this amendment.

Given such injustices already occur for our communities under judicial oversight, the risks are far greater in an administrative system where decisions can be made quickly, without due process, evidence, legal representation, or advocacy.

This amendment was introduced without public consultation or adequate scrutiny. Changes that affect millions of Australians should be transparent and informed by those most impacted.

DROs strongly support the calls made by multiple civil society organisations, including the joint statement from Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) and Economic Justice Australia, for the Federal Government to abandon schedule 5 of this Bill.

This statement is endorsed by:

  • Australian Autism Alliance 
  • Australian Federation of Disability Organisations  
  • Children and Young People with Disability Australia  
  • Community Mental Health Australia
  • Disability Advocacy Network Australia 
  • Down Syndrome Australia Consortium 
  • First Peoples Disability Network Australia 
  • Inclusion Australia  
  • National Ethnic Disability Alliance  
  • National Mental Health Consumer Alliance 
  • People with Disability Australia  
  • Physical Disability Australia  
  • Women With Disabilities Australia  

Joint Statement – Nothing about us, without us

Disability Representative Organisations stand united in our reiteration to government of nothing about us without us.

While Minister Mark Butler noted ‘Nothing about us, without us’ in his speech at the National Press Club yesterday, the announcements made by the Minister came as a surprise to the disability community and representative organisations. This has created further uncertainty for our community.

We are heartened by the Government’s continued commitment to the NDIS, which has changed the lives of people with disability around Australia. However, we are collectively disappointed that the government chose not to engage with the disability community about their announcement.

We welcome the investment in supports for children with developmental delay and autism but need more information about what appears to be an ambitious timeline, and how yesterday’s announcement fits with the broader landscape of Foundational Supports – general and other targeted supports, and the previous commitments that the Australian, state and territory governments have made to this.

We want to ensure that focus on General Foundational Supports is not lost. These vital services, like peer support, accessible information, and self-advocacy, are a key pillar of the NDIS Review findings and are intended to be available to all people with disability around the nation, whether or not people are NDIS participants.

The scope and timeline for implementation of the layered Foundational Supports recommended by the NDIS Review, which are essential for the 4.8 million Australians with disability who are not part of the NDIS, remains unclear. Co-design, for the “Thriving Kids” program and all reforms, with people with disability and their representative organisations is integral.

We look forward to working in constructive partnership with government in co-designing a sustainable eco-system outside the NDIS.

We value and support the assurance provided by Minister Butler on radio today that children will not be diverted or removed from the NDIS before the new system starts. We need to ensure this system is a community-accepted, fully established and sustainable alternative that provides for specialised supports.

Joint statement – Centrelink payment suspensions must stop immediately

DANA, with Inclusion Australia, support the call for urgent intervention by Government to immediately stop Centrelink payment suspensions and penalties linked to compulsory mutual obligation activities. This follows the release of the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report into the unlawful cancellation of payments under the Targeted Compliance Framework (TCF). 

The Ombudsman’s findings confirm serious and systemic failures in how this system has been administered, including the unlawful cancellation of payments to nearly 1,000 people. The report raises broader concerns about the wider compliance system of suspensions, reductions, and cancellations (used when people are deemed not to be complying with their “mutual” obligations) and whether this is operating fairly and lawfully, particularly as it continues to impact large numbers of people every week. 

People with disability are among the most affected. Between January and March 2025, almost 30% of all Centrelink payment suspensions were issued to people who have disclosed disability to Centrelink. These suspensions can result in immediate financial crisis, particularly for people who rely on income support payments as their primary source of income, and likely already face multiple barriers to economic participation. 

There is now clear evidence that current systems are causing harm, and we are deeply concerned that these continue while the Ombudsman’s investigation is ongoing. People with disability deserve access to income support that is fair, lawful and free from the risk of avoidable harm. 

DANA and Inclusion Australia joins the following organisations in calling on the Australian Government to immediately: 

  • Stop all Centrelink payment penalties – including suspensions, reductions and cancellations – related to compulsory mutual obligation activities 
  • Commit to ending the Targeted Compliance Framework permanently 

Organisations endorsing this call include: 

  • Anglicare Australia 
  • Antipoverty Centre 
  • Anti-Poverty Network South Australia 
  • Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) 
  • Disability Advocacy Network Australia 
  • Economic Justice Australia 
  • Inclusion Australia 
  • People with Disability Australia 
  • Single Mother Families Australia 
  • Sweltering Cities 
  • Women with Disabilities Australia 

We urge the Government to take immediate action to prevent further harm to people who depend on Centrelink payments to meet their basic needs.