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Criminal justice: Disability Royal Commission project report update
Each year the Australian and state governments release a progress report showing how they have responded to the recommendations of the Disability Royal Commission.
CID is reviewing the reports to see what the NSW Government is doing to help people with intellectual disability. It is important that we keep the government accountable.
The Royal Commission recommended that states should have culturally appropriate local court diversion programs to link people to the NDIS and other services.
The NSW Government’s response so far
It is good that the NSW Government recognises that people with disability are significantly over-represented across the criminal justice system. We applaud the Government for taking steps to address this through the Court Diversion Program, run by the Justice Advocacy Service, which is currently operating in 6 out of the 149 courts across NSW.
We note that the evaluation of the Program was delayed, and hope that it will be completed and shared by the middle of 2026.
We believe the Diversion Program should be expanded. We are confident the Program has significant positive outcomes for our community, and we seek commitment from the Government to extend the Program across NSW.
Any expansion of the Program must compliment and build on the other services provided by the Justice Advocacy Service, which we argue is significantly underfunded.
These important advocacy services must be supported with a cross-agency training strategy to ensure the specific needs of people with intellectual and cognitive disabilities are better understood.
Find out more
Read our position statement on access to justice.
Read the 2025 progress report from the Australian and state governments:
Read all our responses to the progress reports.
Look out for more blog posts about the 2025 progress report. You can subscribe to our news to find out when the posts are published.
