Principles
The Greens NSW believe that:
1. Consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, all people have the right to participate fully in all aspects of civil, political, social, economic and cultural life, regardless of their differing abilities.
2. There are a variety of medical, societal and environmental reasons why people’s individual abilities differ. Disability arises when society fails to accommodate these differences and creates or fails to remove barriers to equitable access for all. A healthy, functioning society minimises the impact of disability by embracing diversity. Such a society removes barriers to equitable access so that people with disability can maximise their participation.
3. The Greens NSW value the diversity in abilities among individuals and the diversity of contributions that people with disabilities make to our society, and believe our society is greatly diminished without the contributions, insights and benefit of people with disabilities.
4. It is the role of government to dismantle disabling barriers and work towards the empowerment of people disadvantaged by a lack of equitable access to public spaces and services.
5. It is a primary responsibility of governments not only to ensure equality of opportunity but to provide funding to work towards equality of outcome in all areas including education, health, housing, mobility, employment, transport, and sporting, cultural and social engagement.
6. People who experience physical, intellectual, cognitive and/or psychiatric disability, and their families and carers, have the right to actively participate in all levels of policy, service planning and delivery and evaluation, including their own.
7. Society should be free of harassment, abuse, vilification, stigmatisation, discrimination, disadvantage or exploitation on the basis of disability.
8. Carers play an important part in supporting people with differing abilities and have a vital role in helping them to achieve a higher quality of life and must be supported in their caring role to ensure their health and wellbeing.
9. The NDIS must deliver adequate, accessible, efficient and equitable services that are individualised, self-directed and age-appropriate for all people with disability and ensure that no-one is worse off than they were under the previous system.
10. There is significant, ongoing and systemic overrepresentation of people with disability at all levels of the justice system. Many people incarcerated have multiple disabilities, and governments must provide for complex support needs.
Aims
The Greens NSW will work to:
A. Support Services and Inclusion
11. Support a well-funded and resourced operational service sector to meet the needs of all people with disability. This includes but is not limited to the full establishment and implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, to provide fully-funded lifetime care and support.
12. Support increased funding to ensure that all people with disability have access to a range of high quality, age-appropriate, community care and accommodation options to support a person-centred approach,to meeting the accommodation needs of people with disability including supporting the implementation of access-ready buildings to provide adequate and functional opportunities for life-long in-home living and the provision of funding for equipment to provide at-home care.
13. Ongoing review of progress in removing barriers to full citizenship for people with disability in six key areas identified in the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020:
13.1. Inclusive and accessible communities.
13.2. Rights protection, justice and legislation.
13.3. Economic security.
13.4. Personal and community support.
13.5. Learning and skills. and
13.6. Health and well-being.
14. Advocate for fair access to the Disability Support Pension, while working towards a Universal Basic Income.
B. Justice System
15. Promote the development of a NSW Disability Justice Strategy that focuses on ensuring:
15.1. The safety of people with disabilities and freedom from violence.
15.2. Effective access to justice for people with disabilities.
15.3. Non-discrimination.
15.4. Respect for inherent dignity and individual autonomy, including the freedom to make one’s own decisions.
15.5. Full and effective participation and inclusion in the community.
16. Work to address ways in which the criminal justice system unfairly targets people with disability, from policing, courts to prisons. Recognise that in most cases incarceration is not an appropriate response to offending by a person with a disability.
17. Ensure treatment of people with disability in prisons respects their human rights and supports their needs. This must include providing access to appropriate rehabilitation and education options and confinement options that are not unduly restrictive.
18. Urgently expand respite care services and facilities, in-home and emergency support and crisis accommodation.
19. Reform existing relevant legislation to ensure adequate protection of people with disabilities via monitoring, investigative powers and enforcement.
20. Develop and promote appropriate alternatives to the use of coercive measures, seclusion, and restraint within disability service provision and the justice system.
21. Ensure that the specific needs of people with disability from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, including First Nations people with disability, are met.
22. Require providers of disability services, including residential care, to provide services and amenities that do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.
23. Promote access to well-funded and resourced health services including provision of research funding, and greater integration and communication between health services, housing and community supports including for people with high and complex physical, intellectual and communication needs during hospitalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration into the community.
Last Revised August 2023