Review of the Disability Discrimination Act

The Australian Government is reviewing the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. We want to make sure it is working to protect people with disability.

Read more about the review:

• Issues Paper [PDF 1.3MB]
• Issues Paper (Text only) [DOCX 284KB]
• Issues Paper overview [PDF 133KB]
• Issues Paper overview [DOCX 564KB]
• Summary Issues Paper [PDF 208KB]
• Summary Issues Paper [DOCX 192KB]
• Summary Issues Paper – Easy Read version [PDF 4.25MB]
• Summary Issues Paper – Easy Read version (Text only) [DOCX 72KB]

View the Auslan video version of the Summary Issues Paper below.
 

About the review

The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (Disability Royal Commission) made 222 recommendations to government in its Final Report. Some of these recommendations included changes to the Disability Discrimination Act.

On 31 July 2024, the Australian Government published its response to these recommendations. This included accepting, in principle, the 15 recommendations related to the Disability Discrimination Act.

Read the government response to the Disability Royal Commission's Final Report

As part of the government response to the Disability Royal Commission, the government committed $6.9 million to the review and modernisation of the Disability Discrimination Act.

The government has asked us to lead this review. The review will consider options to implement the 15 recommendations from the Disability Royal Commission, as well as further changes to improve the experiences of people with disability.

The disability community has contributed to many reviews and inquiries over the 3 decades that the Disability Discrimination Act has been in force, including the Disability Royal Commission. This review will draw on the reports and submissions from these reviews and inquiries so that people with disability do not need to advocate again about the same issues and experiences.

In late 2024, we met with representatives of the disability community and legal representatives to inform our approach to the review.

Watch a short video about the review of the Disability Discrimination Act:

• Short video about the review
• Short video about the review with Auslan translation 

Sign up to our mailing list to automatically receive updates on the review

Consultation

Public consultation on the review is now open. 

There are 2 ways to share your views:

• Make a submission in response to the questions in our Issues Paper. You can make a submission as an individual or on behalf of an organisation.
• Complete the shorter community survey. This survey has a shorter set of questions for people in the community who do not want to respond to the questions in the Issues Paper but would still like to contribute to the review.

The government recently extended public consultation. Consultation will now close on Friday 14 November 2025.

This consultation process is the first stage of public engagement. The government invites the following groups to share their views on this important area for reform:

• people with disability
• families, carers and kin
• advocates
• service providers
• employers
• unions
• small business
• legal professionals
• education providers
• academia
• the broader community.

There will be further opportunities for the disability community and people with duties under the Disability Discrimination Act to participate.

Consultation events

On 15 August 2025, we held an introductory webinar for the Disability Discrimination Act Review. We gave information on the background and scope of the review. Several speakers from civil society were invited to share their own reflections on the review, why it matters and what they would like to see change. 

Watch a recording of the introductory webinar

Hybrid community forums

From August to September 2025, we held community forums in each capital city, with the opportunity to attend either in person or online. The forums provided an overview of the Disability Discrimination Act review and give opportunities for individual and group reflection and discussions.

• Hobart
  Tuesday 19 August 2025 
  1:30 pm – 5 pm
• Melbourne
  Thursday 21 August 2025
  1:30 pm – 5 pm
• Adelaide
  Monday 25 August 2025
  1:30 pm – 5 pm
• Brisbane
  Thursday 28 August 2025
  1:30 pm – 5 pm
• Darwin
  Thursday 4 September 2025
  1:30 pm – 5 pm
• Sydney
  Monday 8 September 2025
  1:30 pm – 5 pm
• Canberra
  Monday 15 September 2025
  1:00 pm – 4:30 pm
• Perth
  Friday 19 September 2025
  1:30 pm – 5 pm

Online roundtables

Earlier in September 2025, we held online roundtables so that we could have a deeper discussion with all members of the public on the specific areas of:

• employment
• education
• access and inclusion
• community safety.

We also held an online roundtable event to engage closely with:

• small businesses
• small business representatives
• industry associations and chambers of commerce
• business advisors and support providers
• disability employment and inclusion advocates within business networks
• organisations working with small business to improve accessibility.

All online roundtable events have been past.

• Online roundtable 1 – Employment
  Tuesday 9 September 2025
  10:00 am – 12:30 pm
• Online roundtable 2 – Education
  Wednesday 10 September 2025
  10:00 am – 12:30 pm
• Online roundtable 3 – Access and inclusion
  Friday 12 September 2025
  10:00 am – 12:30 pm
• Online roundtable 4 – Community safety
  Tuesday 16 September 2025
  10:00 am – 12:30 pm
• Small Business Online Roundtable
  Thursday 25 September 2025
  12:00 pm – 2:00 pm