The CRPD Civil Society Shadow Report Project Group would like to thank the following individuals and organisations for their contributions and support:
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All the participants in the consultations held in each State and Territory and the partner organisations in each city that helped promote and support the consultations. The consultations were attended by more than 100 people, comprising individuals and representatives from Disabled Persons Organisations and disability advocacy and legal organisations.
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The representatives from rural and remote communities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities who were consulted to capture issues specific to their communities for the report.
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All the individuals and organisations who took the time to participate in our online survey and workbook. Over 193 individual submissions were made via the website survey. In addition, 5 submissions were made by organisations that downloaded and completed the workbook. The website also invited representatives from civil society to provide further copies of any relevant material. The authors of this report were fortunate to have received dozens of submissions in the form of information packs, reports, case studies and other documents prepared by DPOs, disability advocacy organisations and civil society groups.
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All the organisations who shared their knowledge and expertise with us
The participants on the CRPD Civil Society Shadow Report Project Group and their organisations made substantial contributions to the resourcing, drafting and editing of the Report:
Therese Sands, Executive Director, People With Disability Australia
Joanna Shulman, CEO, Redfern Legal Centre
Lesley Hall, CEO, and David Webb, National Projects Officer, Australian Federation of Disability Organisations
Rosemary Kayess, Director, Human Rights and Disability Project, Australian Human Rights Centre, Faculty of Law, UNSW
Kevin Cocks and Ken Wade of Queensland Advocacy Incorporated
Andrea Simmons, CEO, and David Craig, Director, Disability Advocacy Network Australia
Fiona Given, Policy Officer, Australian Centre for Disability Law9
Damian Griffis, Executive Officer, First Peoples Disability Network of Australia
The Project Group is grateful for the assistance provided by DLA Piper, Jay Williams, Laura Costello and Shannon Torrens at Redfern Legal Centre and David Craig, former Director, Disability Advocacy Network Australia.
The CRPD Civil Society Shadow Report Project Group is particularly grateful to the significant contributions and pro-bono support provided by staff at DLA Piper throughout this project: Nicolas Patrick, Amelia Dixon Weidner, Ben Schokman, Alison Ewart, Emily Christie, Marcus Bagnall, Alexandra Parker, Prabha Nandagopal, Jaimie Wolbers.
Australian Government Funding
The Project Group gratefully acknowledges the support provided by the Australian Government’s Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) in the development of this report.
The Commonwealth, represented by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any material contained in this report. Additionally, the Commonwealth disclaims all liability to any person in respect of anything, and of the consequences of anything, done or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance, whether wholly or partially, upon any information presented in this report.
 
Queensland Advocacy Incorporated
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Australian Disability
Rights Network
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Background
Introduction to Australian Government and Legal System
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Australia by world standards is a wealthy nation, (ranked 8th in the world10) with a gross domestic product equivalent to $US37,564.67 per capita. Australia is also one of the world’s most developed countries, and is ranked second (behind Norway) in the United Nations Human Development Index.11
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A pluralist democracy, Australia is recognised for its enduring political stability.12 It has a federal system with a central Commonwealth government and six states and three territories. Australia’s federal system of government is enshrined in the Australian Constitution and provides limited powers to the Commonwealth. The Australian Constitution contains a series of ‘enumerated powers’, which circumscribe the limits of Commonwealth legislative competence. The Commonwealth government has legislative responsibility as outlined in section 5113 of the Constitution and in particular section 51(xxix) (the ‘external affairs’ power) which enlivens Australia’s obligations under human rights treaties.
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It is under this external affairs power that the Commonwealth government can undertake international obligations and pass domestic legislation to give effect to those obligations. The Constitution does not incorporate a set of codified rights but is the source of six explicit and some implied rights. The explicit rights enshrined in the Constitution include the right to trial by jury, to vote and freedom of religion.14 The courts over time have established areas of implied constitutional limitations on government’s action. These areas of implied rights — or more correctly freedoms — include freedom of political communication.15 The Australian Constitution contains no provisions for, and makes no explicit reference to, disability or persons with disability.
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As the Australian Constitution does not incorporate a statement of rights the source of human rights in Australia is through the external affairs power and the Federal Government’s signing and ratification of seven of the nine core human rights treaties.16 Australia does not have a constitutional Bill of Rights or legislative Human Rights Act17 and is currently the only common law country without some form of comprehensive legal protection of human rights.18
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Those powers that are not enumerated in the Australian Constitution remain within the legislative competence of the states, which is plenary in nature and are limited only by what is necessary for “peace, order and good government” of the State.19 Australia also has three self-governing territories, each of which also has plenary power. However, the source of their self-government is Commonwealth legislation rather than constitutional power. In the self-governing territories the Commonwealth parliament retains the full power to legislate, and can override laws made by the territorial institutions, which it has done on rare occasions. Under the Federation, the criminal law, policing and the provision of health, education and social services, are principally the responsibility of the Australian State and Territory governments.
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To address issues in relation to federalism the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) was formed as the key intergovernmental forum in Australia. COAG comprises the Prime Minister, State Premiers, Territory Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA). Established in 1992, the role of COAG is to initiate, develop and monitor the implementation of policy reforms that are of national significance and which require cooperative action by Australian governments.20
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