Disability Discrimination Act review
Understand proposed improvements to the Disability Discrimination Act through the Australian Government's 2025 review and reform process for stronger
Summary
Find out more about the recommendations we're making to update Australia's Disability Discrimination Act as part of a review of the Act by the Australian Government.
Download the AHRC's submission
AHRC's submission to the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) review | 14 November 2025
Our submission to the Attorney-General's review of the Disability Discrimination Act outlines 36 recommendations for how the Act can be harmonised, simplified, and modernised to remove barriers faced by people with disability.
Video | Commissioner Kayess responds to the DDA review
The Australian Government is undertaking a review of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth).
The purpose of the review is to consider options to implement the 15 recommendations from the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, as well as further changes to improve the experiences of people with disability.
The following link contains an Easy Read version of the Disability Discrimination Act: Disability Discrimination Act 1992 Easy Read Translation
Our response to the review
The Commission – which administers the application of federal anti-discrimination laws, including the Disability Discrimination Act – welcomes the review.
The review provides an opportunity for the Commission to advocate for a range of reforms to the Act which will modernise and simplify the Act as well as strengthen how it protects the rights of people with disability.
The Commission has made a submission to the Attorney-General's Department as part of the review process. Our submission can be accessed below.
Read the Commission's media release
Our key proposals for reforming the Act
Through our Free + Equal project, the Commission proposed a range of reforms to the federal anti-discrimination laws.
These include the introduction of a ‘positive duty' or a requirement to take active steps to prevent and eliminate discrimination from happening in the first place. Currently the Disability Discrimination Act is reactive, and remedial action can only occur after a complaint has been made.
Another key recommendation the Commission has made in our submission is to call for a range of similar reforms to be introduced across Australia's full set of anti-discrimination laws – which includes the Disability, Racial, Sex and Age Discrimination Acts – so they achieve consistent standards of protections.
Read the Commission's plan for reforming Australia's anti-discrimination Acts
Explainers
The Commission has developed a series of explainers to help people better understand what discrimination on the grounds of disability means, how the Disability Discrimination Act works, and why and how it needs to be reformed. These explainers can be accessed below.
Note: The explainers are intended to simplify concepts to support community understanding. For further explanation about the law and other key concepts, see the AHRC's full submission to the Disability Discrimination Act review. The explainers are not a substitute for legal advice.
Explainer: Why we need to reform the DDA
This explainer will tell you about why the Disability Discrimination Act needs to be reformed so that it can properly achieve its purpose.
Explainer: Does the DDA protect the human rights of people with disability
This explainer tells you more about human rights for people with disability, how they are currently protected, and how a Human Rights Act can improve the protection of human rights for all Australians.
Explainer: How can the test for direct discrimination be simplified?
This explainer will tell you more about the current test for direct discrimination and how it needs to change.
Explainer: How can the test for indirect discrimination be improved?
This explainer will tell you more about the current test for indirect discrimination and how it needs to change.
Explainer: How should the Disability Discrimination Act define disability?
This explainer will tell you more about the current definition for disability in the Disability Discrimination Act and why it needs to change.
Explainer: How can the requirement to provide adjustments to people with disability be improved?
This explainer will tell you more about the current requirement for reasonable adjustments and why it needs to be changed.
