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The Migrant Workers Centre (MWC) welcomes the Australian Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (2023) and its commitment to strengthening and modernising the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). The DDA has not been significantly updated since 1992 and is now in urgent need of reform to reflect current community expectations, international human rights standards and Australia’s broader anti-discrimination framework.
In our submission to the Government’s Issues Paper, we respond to key questions relevant to our advocacy at the intersection of work and migration. We call for the adoption of an intersectional, social model of disability and a proactive approach that prevents discrimination against people with disabilities and health conditions.
The MWC also highlights critical gaps in the DDA’s coverage, particularly the blanket exemption of parts of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). We strongly support Welcoming Disability’s position that this exemption is overly broad and inconsistent with human rights principles. Reform is needed to ensure that migration health requirements do not exclude or disadvantage people with disabilities on cost-based or discriminatory grounds.
Our advocacy recognises that people with disabilities and health conditions contribute immensely to the social, economic, and cultural life of Australia. They should not be unjustly excluded from migration pathways or employment opportunities based on outdated and exclusionary definitions of value or productivity.
Summary of recommendations
Recommendation 1: The objects of the DDA should be amended by inserting an express requirement that the Act be interpreted, so far as possible, consistently with international instruments that Australia has ratified, including the CRPD.
Recommendation 2: Amend the DDA to include an express provision requiring all duty-holders and administrative and judicial decision-makers to interpret the Act consistently with the CRPD.
Recommendation 3: Amend the DDA to expressly provide that discrimination may occur on the basis of multiple, intersecting, and/or a combination of two or more protected attributes, including those covered across federal discrimination and industrial law.
Recommendation 4: Ensure that the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is adequately resourced to identify, conciliate, and monitor intersectional discrimination through staff training, specialist expertise, and accessible complaint-handling processes. The Commission should also strengthen data collection, reporting, and community outreach to better support people experiencing compounded disadvantage.
Recommendation 5: Model the definition of direct discrimination on the Equality Act 2010 (UK) by adopting the term ‘unfavourable’ rather than ‘less favourable’, removing the requirement to identify a comparator, and aligning with the shifting burden of proof approach under section 136.
Recommendation 6: Introduce a positive duty requiring all duty-holders to address and prevent all forms of ‘unlawful conduct’ in all areas of activity under the DDA, including ‘unlawful conduct’ by or against people having any engagement with the organisation. The duty should apply to both public and private sector entities.
Recommendation 7: Establish a robust enforcement framework for the positive duty that empowers the AHRC to proactively monitor, investigate, and enforce compliance without reliance on individual complaints. To ensure effective enforcement, the Commission should also be equipped to impose and escalate sanctions for serious or persistent non-compliance, including civil penalties, injunctions, procurement exclusions, and publication powers.
Recommendation 8: Amend the DDA to make Disability Action Plans (DAPs) mandatory for prescribed duty-holders, including public authorities, statutory bodies, and organisations above a specified size or employment threshold. Entities or organisations that do not meet that threshold should be encouraged and supported to develop DAPs voluntarily, subject to legislated criteria.
Recommendation 9: Require mandatory DAPs to be measured and enforced under the positive duty framework. DAPs should be periodically reviewed and subject to AHRC oversight, with co-design requirements embedded to ensure accountability and inclusion.
Recommendation 10: The proposed positive duty should require duty-holders to identify, consider and report on intersectional impacts, and to take steps to remove barriers arising from them. DAPs should also include specific measures to address intersectional impacts.
Recommendation 11: The exemption under s 52 should be substantially narrowed and limited to measures necessary and proportionate to protect public health, in line with Australia’s obligations under the CRPD.
