The Minister’s Disability Advisory Council are working towards creating a more inclusive South Australia

2023-03-17

This week the Minister for Human Services convened the first meeting of the Disability Advisory Council meeting, to share her aspirations for the council and set the scene for a ground-breaking year of social inclusion policy work .

The appointment of the 12 council mem  bers fulfills the State Government’s commitment to engage directly with communities, and will draw on their lived experiences of disability and professional knowledge to help steer a range of disability-related government policy, legislation and strategies throughout the year.

The Minister fielded a range of questions from council members on the priority areas they are most passionate about and took time to discuss the intersection between state and national disability reform and how their work can be shared between the other Advisory Councils – Youth and LGBTIQA+.

First on the agenda, council members reflected on the recent review of the Disability Inclusion Act 2018 (SA) and the Disability Inclusion (Review Recommendations) Amendment Bill 2022 (the Amendment Bill) and openly discussed their initial reflections to the proposed changes. The council considered aspects of the proposed Amendment Bill, such as defining the term 'barrier', and have been encouraged to develop their individual submissions to the consultation currently underway.

The council was also provided an update on the State’s first Autism Strategy – which completed its first phase of public consultation last month – and was of significant interest to many of the Council members, who provided important feedback.

Between now and the next meeting in early June, council members will reflect on the performance of Inclusive SA, the state’s current Disability Inclusion Plan, to support DHS in preparing a new and improved plan for 2024 and beyond.