Disability Justice Reference Group Terms of Reference

The Community Services (Office for Disability) and Justice and Community Safety Directorates are working in partnership on developing a Disability Justice Strategy for the ACT.

Disability Justice Strategies seek to ensure that people with disability enjoy equal access to the law and equal treatment before the law. The Disability Justice Strategy seeks to address inequality and is inclusive of people with all types of disability of all ages.

To assist in the preparation of the Strategy for the ACT Government’s consideration, we have sought qualified nominees to participate in a reference group.

The Disability Justice Reference Group (DJRG) will:

• provide advice on priority inclusions for the strategy;
• foster cooperative linkages across the justice and disability sectors in preparing the strategy;
• guide the strategy development and respond to issues that arise from consultation;
• ensure the lived experience of people with disability is central to the strategy development.

We have sought participants with one or more of the following qualities:

• lived experience as a person with disability who interacts with the justice system;
• experience or qualifications in disability services, the civil or criminal law or research on disability and the justice system; and/or
• experience or qualifications in youth justice, disability education, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander engagement or community outreach.

The meeting is Co-Chaired by the Co-Chair of the Disability Reference Group to ensure the interests of people with disability are represented and that the objectives of the Disability Justice Reference Group are promoted through the Disability Reference Group.

Members are expected to prioritise attendance at meetings, champion disability justice work through their professional roles and engage with targeted consultations.

The DJRG will meet every eight weeks between June 2018 to June 2019 as consultation on the strategy and draft preparation occurs. The Disability Justice Strategy team from Office for Disability and Legislation Policy and Programs will provide support to the reference group.

The Disability Justice Reference Group will issue a public communique at the completion of each meeting.