Future focus/next steps

The current Ministerial priorities for the Disability Issues portfolio reflect this focus:

• Progress the Enabling Good Lives approach to improve how government supports disabled people.
• Build inclusive communities.
• Increase momentum with better access and mobility around communities.
• More paid jobs and opportunities for economic development for disabled people.
• Improve the leadership, co-ordination and accountability across government agencies for results that improve disabled people’s lives and which are measurable and transparent.

The Ministerial Committee has agreed seven specific actions under the Disability Action Plan. These also reflect the continued focus of inclusion and demonstrate a fresh impetus for a whole-of-government approach to achieving that.

During the year, the Office for Disability Issues will continue to gather information from agencies to populate and update the reporting framework. It is important that all significant actions across government and in individual agencies, that impact disabled people and their families, are captured. It is also important that these are able to be seen in a ‘whole of life’ context as well as from a ‘whole of government’ spectrum of service. This includes the Government’s Better Public Services actions, the Disability Action Plan work and many agencies business-as-usual activities.

The reporting framework will be used to monitor government activity and to help identify where action is still required.

Related to this work, the Office for Disability Issues also plans to complete an outcomes framework and indicators. This will better enable monitoring how government actions are contributing to desired outcomes for disabled people.