1.1 On 9 June 1998, the Attorney General, the Hon JW Shaw QC MLC, asked the Law Reform Commission (the Commission) to:

1. Review the Disability Services Act 1993 (NSW) (the DSA) to determine whether the policy objectives of the DSA remain valid and whether the terms of the DSA remain appropriate for securing those objectives;

2. Review the Disability Services Regulation 1993 to determine whether there is a need for a regulation and if so whether the policy objectives of the DSA Regulation remain valid and whether the terms of the DSA Regulation remain appropriate for securing those objectives;

3. Conduct the review, with consideration given to the resource or financial implications of the current legislation and regulation and any proposed legislative or regulatory amendments; and

4. Conduct the review having regard to the obligations arising under s 29 of the DSA and the provisions of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1989 (NSW).

BACKGROUND TO THE REFERENCE

1.2 Section 29 of the DSA requires the Act to be reviewed in order to determine whether its policy objectives remain valid, and whether its terms remain appropriate for securing those objectives. The review must be conducted as soon as possible after five years from 8 April 1993. A report of the review is to be tabled in Parliament by 8 April 1999. The Commission is also reviewing the Community Services (Complaints, Appeals and Monitoring) Act 1993 (NSW) and has released an issues paper, Review of the Community Services (Complaints, Appeals and Monitoring) Act 1993 (NSW) (IP 15).

THIS PAPER

1.3 This paper is an issues paper. It is designed to provoke comment. It examines the provisions of the DSA. It considers the objects of the DSA and whether they remain valid. It then examines other terms of the DSA and asks whether they remain appropriate. It asks questions about the provisions of the DSA and its operation. It also asks about the resource implications of the DSA. In preparing this paper, a number of people and organisations made submissions to the Commission, identifying what they considered to be the main issues and concerns about the DSA. A list of those submissions appears as Appendix A to this paper. The Commission greatly appreciates the assistance provided by these submissions.

HAVE YOUR SAY

1.4 The Commission will be undertaking community consultation during October, November and December 1998. If you wish to respond to some of the questions in the issues paper, you are invited to do so. You need not respond to all the questions. How to make a submission is outlined on page vii of this paper.