Last month the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, Minister for Families and Social Services, and the Hon Sarah Henderson MP, Assistant Minister for Social Services, Housing and Disability Services issued a media release announcing that from April, the Australian community can take part in national consultations to shape the future of Australia’s disability policy for beyond 2020.
The first stage of consultation will take place between April and June 2019. Registration for the face-to-face community workshops recently opened on the DSS Engage page. The page also provides details on the timing and approach for consultations and enables interested parties to register for workshops and subscribe to a mailing list to keep updated.
The Department of Social Services has developed some promotional materials to encourage people to register for face-to-face consultations.
An Independent Review of the Strategy has been published and is available on the DSS website. The review sought the opinions of key stakeholders on how the existing National Disability Strategy is meeting the needs of people with disability and what improvements could be made. This review provides useful background for the consultations.
Further information is available by contacting disabilityreform@dss.gov.au.