Responsibility: Australian, state and territory governments
Joint Response: Accept in principle
Status: In progress
What has been achieved to date
The Disability Reform Ministerial Council agreed in February 2025 to the development of a Joint Action Plan to reduce and eliminate the use of restrictive practices on people with disability.
The Victorian Government, the Commonwealth Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission will co-lead the development of a Joint Action Plan between all governments to reduce and eliminate the use of restrictive practices in the NDIS. The Senior Practitioners Leadership Group will be engaged in the design and development of the Joint Action Plan.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) continues to work with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, and relevant state and territory senior practitioner authorities, to develop other strategies that can be implemented within the NDIA to reduce the use of restrictive practices. This includes capability building within the workforce and the provision of other supports (NDIS funded or other) as alternative behaviour support strategies.
What the Disability Royal Commission said in the final report
he Australian Government and state and territory governments should establish sector specific targets and performance indicators to drive the reduction and elimination of restrictive practices over time. This should be at both the national and state and territory levels for disability, health, education and justice settings. These targets and performance indicators should be established by 1 July 2025 at the latest.
Joint Government response July 2024
The Australian Government and state and territory governments are committed to working together to improve the collection and reporting of restrictive practices data and to considering sector-specific targets and performance indicators to drive the reduction and elimination of restrictive practices across all settings.
As a first step, and consistent with Action 18.1 of the NDIS Review, the Disability Reform Ministerial Council will prioritise action to establish consistent targets and performance indicators to drive the reduction and elimination of restrictive practices in the NDIS and will task officials to develop a Joint Action Plan to reduce and eliminate restrictive practices in the NDIS.
Given the complexity and variation of data collection processes across jurisdictions, consultation with all sectors and flexibility on the timeframe for implementing these recommendations may be required.
More recommendations
View progress on other recommendations made by the Royal Commission.