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FACT SHEET
Disability Services Amendment Bill 2019
The Disability Services Amendment Bill 2019 (the Bill) includes amendments to
the Disability Services Act 2011 (DSA).
The DSA provides the framework for funding of service providers, researchers
and individuals with disability, and for the approval and conduct of restrictive
practices. It specifically relates to specialist disability services either funded or
provided by the Tasmanian Government and continues to apply to providers
during transition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The DSA is supported by the Disability Services Regulations 2015 which are
aligned with the National Standards for Disability Services.
A review of the operations of the DSA was undertaken in 2017-2018. The
review was a requirement of the DSA. Due to the transition to the NDIS, the
review was intentionally small in scale and considered:
o the operational effectiveness of the DSA since implementation;
o interoperability of the DSA with other legislation;
o issues with the DSA which have arisen as a result of transition to the NDIS.
A full-scale review and rewrite of the DSA will occur in the future when Tasmania
has fully transitioned to the NDIS.
The Tasmanian Government has accepted the recommendations from the review
and has proceeded to act on all. Several recommendations are the subject of the
Bill. Some recommendations have been accepted but will need to be deferred
until a further review of the DSA is undertaken; this will occur once the NDIS
operational landscape is more clearly defined. Some recommendations will be
actioned at a policy level by the Department of Communities Tasmania.
The amendments in the Disability Services Amendment Bill 2019:
o better align the Principles in the Act with the Principles in the National
Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act) and with the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
o include Principles relating to the rights of children with disability;
o introduce provisions for interim authorisation of restrictive interventions;
o improve information sharing provisions to ensure alignment with the NDIS
Act so that transition of clients to the NDIS can be effectively managed;
o remove references in the Act to the purchase of strategic and operational
plans as these can be downloaded from the Department of Communities
Tasmania website free of charge;
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o modify subsection 28(3) of the Act relating to the functions of Authorised
Officers to clarify that a person with a disability has the right to have
another person present when interviewed under Section 28(2) of the Act;
and
o update references to the Mental Health Act 1996 to refer to the Mental
Health Act 2013, where relevant, and include references to the Chief Civil
Psychiatrist in addition to the Chief Forensic Psychiatrist.
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