This proposal has 5 components which would take effect from 1 July 2022.
Component 1: Ensure the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) works for disabled people.
a. Invest $300 million over 4 years to enhance the compliance and investigative capacity of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
b. Redirect the $160 million committed to corporations to run independent assessments to the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
c. Remove the current age requirements so that people over the age of 65 can make access requests for the NDIS and become participants of the NDIS.
Component 2: Accessible transport, infrastructure, and communications.
a. Invest $1 billion over 4 years to boost accessible public transport across Australia.
b. Provide $3 billion over 4 years to establish a new Accessible Infrastructure Fund, including a $30 million Accessible Nature Fund, available to state and local governments to retrofit existing public places and infrastructure to accessibility standards, and increase access to nature and tourism activities for people with disabilities.
c. Invest $30 million over 4 years, followed by ongoing funding to increase the availability of Australian Sign Language (AUSLAN) interpreters, improve relay and translation services and expand the regulatory requirement for audio description and captioning services to commercial television channels.
d. Provide $1.49 million over 2 years, followed by ongoing annual funding of $2 million indexed by the consumer price index (CPI) to establish a National Disability Telecommunications Service. This would be a national resource for communications products and services information, training, and support.
e. Invest $5 million over 4 years to re-establish a safe, dedicated online platform for the promotion of discussion, debate, and cultural development within the disability community, similar to the ABC’s defunded Ramp Up.
Component 3: Increase Commonwealth funding for disability advocacy bodies by $30 million over 4 years, which includes $2m to fund the Queensland Disability Network to operate the Targeted Outreach project, followed by ongoing funding.
Component 4: Provide funding for inclusive education training and upskilling for principals, teachers and university lecturers.
a. Invest an initial commitment of $10 million over 4 years to co-design a National Inclusive Education Transition Plan with disabled people, families, disability representative organisations, teachers and their representative unions, and education experts.
b. Incorporate a one-semester unit covering inclusive education in all tertiary teacher training. Building inclusive education into tertiary qualifications.
c. Provide $400 million over 4 years, followed by ongoing funding to all pre-service and in-service teachers and principals to train, retrain and regularly upskill in inclusive education practices.
Component 5: Invest $15 million over 4 years, followed by ongoing funding to ensure emergency responders and disaster relief services receive disability awareness training.
Departmental expenses would be met outside the capped funding amounts.