Under the Disability Services Act 1986 (Cth) (DSA) there is no right to disability services. Rather, the focus has been on funding services which provide disability support. The DSA provides that the Minister may approve eligible organisations and state and territory governments to provide services for people with a disability.
State and territory governments also fund and implement their own disability services, but the level of service provided varies widely from state to state. This structure prevents all people with disability from accessing the same level of support across Australia. The lack of portability is a barrier to people with disability to be able to freely choose where to live. (See also Article 18)
The National Disability Agreement (NDA) is the funding agreement between the Federal, State and Territory Governments for the delivery of specialist disability services.531 This includes supported accommodation, community support, community access, respite, employment, advocacy, information and print disability.532