Legislative and Other Policy Instruments Impacting on Cara

Legislative and other policy instruments impacting on Cara

When Australia becomes a signatory to a United Nations Convention, the Commonwealth parliament must enact draft and enact laws for Australia that enforce the Convention. For example, amendments have been made to the Disability Discrimination Act as a result of the UN Convention (DisCo). Government Departments then include these legislative requirements into their policies and into their funding agreements. For example, they might say that (even though the National Standards for Disability Services aren’t legislated), that any organisation receiving funding from the Department of Human Services, Social Services (at Commonwealth level) and Department of Families and Social Inclusion (at State level) must comply with these standards or they would not be eligible for funding. The SA Office for Recreation and Sport did this in 2005 when they made it policy that they would not provide funds to any organisation that did not have a Disability Access and Inclusion Plan.

Cara has a number of licensing requirements and receives funding from Government bodies. As a result of these licencing and funding arrangements, Cara has developed a large number of policies and procedures that ensure the organisation is compliant with all legal, ethical and policy requirements. You will see in all Cara’s policies that they begin with a statement about which of the National Standards for Disability Service they are related to.

International Instruments / Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2007) – known as ‘DisCo’
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) – known as CRoC
United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979) – known as CEDAW
National Instruments
(Legislated)
Plus legislation related to taxation, financial management etc. / Disability Discrimination Act 1992 – known as the DDA
Disability Standards for Education 2005
 Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002
Disability Standards for Access to Premises 1992
Racial Discrimination Act 1975
Age Discrimination Act 2004
Sex Discrimination Act 1984
Carer Recognition Act 2010
Fair Work Act 2009
Privacy Act 1988
 Australian Privacy Principles 2014 - found in the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012
National Instruments
(Policy) / National Standards for Disability Services 2013 (signed and ratified by all Ministers for Disability in Commonwealth, State and Territory governments)
State Instruments / Disability Services Act 1993
Equal Opportunity Act (1984):
Carers Recognition Act (2005):
Work Health Safety Act – and Regulations (2012):
Health and Community Services Complaints Act (2004):
Children’s Protection Act (1993)
Other Instruments / International Standard for Quality:
ISO 9001:2015
International Standard for Risk Management
ISO 31000:2009
Professional Standards / As examples: Social Workers, Nurses, Developmental Educators, Occupational Therapists and so on must be eligible for registration with their professional bodies and trainers are required to hold Certificate 4 in Training and Assessment at the minimum.