Priorities for the new government
As the Albanese government enters a second term, we asked our chief investigators what they see as priorities in relation to AHEAD’s themes.
Focus on getting people with disability into quality, meaningful, long-term employment alongside increasing employment participation for people with disability.
Changing Disability Employment Services incentives and existing mutual obligation requirements to support placements into appropriate, quality jobs.
Providing individualised supports to jobseekers with disability and upskilling the employment service workforce to provide more individualised models of employment support and facilitate better job matching.
Promoting inclusive workplaces through strategies to train employers in how to hire and support people with disability, increased resources for employers to support individualised job placements, research to better understand the barriers to inclusive workplaces, and co-designing, pilot-testing, implementing and evaluating interventions to address attitude change in the workplace.
Creating employment opportunities through multiple strategies at the national, state, and local level, including employment targets, hiring schemes, and financial incentives for employers.
Invest in community and social infrastructure to build inclusive neighbourhoods, where people with disability can live close to the networks, services and resources that enable participation.
· Inclusive neighbourhoods are ones that offer safe, affordable housing, easy access to essential services such as healthcare, quiet spaces like libraries and gardens, proximity to employment, and good public transport, bike paths and footpaths.
· International evidence shows the importance of inclusive environments for the health and wellbeing of people with disability (Alderton et al., 2025). Designing neighbourhoods that foster inclusion and participation will support better health and wellbeing outcomes, including for young people with disability.
· We need better integration of disability and urban policy portfolios, ensuring urban policy explicitly enables accessible and inclusive environments for people with disability, and disability policy recognises the importance of the built environment for supporting independence and inclusion.
Prioritise liveability for all – not just those who can afford it.
· People with disability often live in outer urban areas with poor amenity, because the most liveable neighbourhoods – typically in established inner suburbs – are increasingly out-of-reach due to the high cost of housing.
· We need more affordable housing located in liveable neighbourhoods, to remove barriers to people with disability building community networks and accessing the services they need.
· We also need the federal government to uphold its commitment to liveability and equity laid out in its National Urban Policy and ensure that all neighbourhoods – not just those in established suburbs – are liveable, accessible, and support wellbeing.
Treat housing as a human right, not an investment strategy, and get serious about tackling housing affordability for renters and aspiring homeowners – including those with disability.
· Australians with disability are more likely than those without to live in unaffordable housing in Australia, and often need to spend more to achieve the same standard of living – making housing costs an even greater burden.
· We know unaffordable housing has impacts on mental health. It also has implications for the quality and location of housing people can afford to live in, and the money available for other essentials such as healthcare, food and transport – all of which impact health outcomes
· Improving our housing systems – through better regulation of the private rental sector, increased supply of affordable, accessible and well-located housing, and reform of the tax structures that treat housing as an investment rather than a human right – will benefit all Australians, and especially those with a disability.
Focus on making health care for people with disability more affordable, accessible and proactive
The government’s commitment to increasing bulk billing rates is poised to alleviate some financial barriers to healthcare access for many Australians, including people with disabilities. The $8.5 billion investment aims to expand eligibility for bulk billing incentives to all Australians and establish the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program, supporting general practices to bulk bill all patients. This initiative is expected to make nine out of ten GP visits free by the end of the decade, enhancing affordability and accessibility of primary care services .
Beyond affordability, there is a pressing need to enhance the overall management of health for people with disabilities and their access to health promotion services. The current demand-driven healthcare system often falls short in meeting the unique needs of individuals with disabilities. Challenges include difficulties in accessing health services, and the necessity for better coordination among healthcare providers.
A more proactive approach is essential, focusing on outreach services that deliver healthcare when, where, and how people with disabilities need it. This includes not solely relying on individuals and their supporters to initiate healthcare engagement but implementing systems that anticipate and respond to their needs.
The recent structural change, moving the Disability portfolio from the Department of Social Services to the Department of Health and Aged Care, resulting in the formation of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, presents opportunities to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare for people with disabilities. This integration aims to foster a more cohesive approach to health and disability services, potentially enhancing service delivery and policy development.
This reorganisation also holds promise for mental healthcare services, where there is significant overlap between mental health therapy and mental health supports. A unified department could streamline services, reduce fragmentation, and ensure that individuals receive comprehensive care tailored to their needs.
Balance National Disability Insurance Scheme costs with participant needs and experience
Engage in meaningful co-design processes with people with disability to design Foundational Supports that are appropriate to the needs of those not eligible for the NDIS.
The federal government to work with states and territories to design and implement Foundational Supports and ensure that people do not fall through gaps if services are no longer funded through the NDIS.
Ensure that the movement of the NDIS from the Department of Social Services into the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing does not medicalise how disability is viewed and that disability policy remains focused on human rights.
Streamline approaches to workforce planning across health, aged care and disability given that these different areas compete to attract similar workforces and will now sit in the same agency.
Work to refresh the National Disability Agreement. This was signed in 2008 and sets out the financial relations between governments and provides a foundation for collaboration on policy and service delivery, but this is outdated given the changes to the disability policy landscape.
Continue to develop a mechanism to better understand the outcomes that the NDIS delivers, so we have a better appreciation of the impact of the scheme. Some of this work has started through the NDIS Wellbeing Framework.