Disability Inclusion and Safeguarding Bill - Have your say

The Tasmanian Government has completed the community consultation on the Disability Inclusion and Safeguarding Bill 2023.

This Bill was developed in response to the 2021-22 Review of the Disability Services Act 2011 (Tas). The outcome of the Review was to create an entirely new Disability Inclusion Act that will advance the human rights of Tasmanians with disability and strengthen the Tasmanian Government’s commitment to an equitable, inclusive and accessible State. For further information on the Review see DSA Review and the Consultation Outcomes.

How we consulted

The following materials were provided for the consultation:

• the Draft Disability Inclusion Bill 2023 (PDF)
• the Draft Disability Inclusion Bill 2023 (Word Etext)
• the Draft Disability Inclusion Bill 2023 Overview Paper which summaries the major elements of the proposed disability inclusion legislative reforms.
  • Full (accessible)
  • Summary (accessible)
  • Easy Read  (MS Word)
  • Easy Read (PDF)
  • EText 
  • Audio files

A pre-recorded information session with Auslan interpreters was provided for you to hear more about key aspects of the Disability Inclusion Bill.

Read the video transcript.

Consultation sessions

We conducted face-to-face and online consultation sessions on the draft Bill in August and September 2023. Over 60 people, including people with disability, representative organisations and service providers participated in six face-to-face sessions and three online public consultations. Many more people participated in targeted consultation sessions with organisations.

Submissions

Written submissions were invited for feedback on the draft Disability Inclusion Bill 2023 and we received 30 public submissions.

Important information to note

Submissions are published on this page where the authors have agreed to them being made public. By publishing submissions, the Tasmanian Government expresses no opinion as to the content or accuracy of any of the submissions or other materials to which the submissions may refer.

The Tasmanian Government may choose not to publish all or part of a submission if it considers it inappropriate to do so. The Government recognises that not all individuals or groups are equally placed to access and understand information. We are therefore committed to ensuring Government information is accessible and easily understood by people with diverse communication needs. However, the Government cannot take responsibility for the accessibility of documents provided by third parties.

More information can be found in the Publication of Submissions Received by Tasmanian Government Departments in Response to Consultation on Major Policy Matters (PDF).

Where to from here

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback in the consultation. Engagement on this important legislation exceeded expectations and saw representation from a broad cross section of stakeholders.

The consultation feedback has now been considered and has been used to improve the proposed legislation. In response to your feedback the human rights focus of the Bill has been strengthened to advance and safeguard the rights of all people with disability and to advance the full and effective inclusion of all people with disability. To reflect this the Bill has been retitled to be the Disability Inclusion and Safeguarding Bill.

There was also a lot of excellent feedback that was provided relating to implementation of the Bill. That will be addressed in the development of guidelines, policies and procedures, and through regulations, which will support the operation of the Act. Other feedback will be considered alongside the recommendations from the Disability Royal Commission and the NDIS review.

The Bill is expected to be tabled in the Tasmanian Parliament when it resumes in 2024.

For further information, please contact:

Maryanne Lewis, Project Manager – Disability Inclusion Legislation Project.

Phone: (03) 6270 5830

Email: disabilityinclusionbill@dpac.tas.gov.au