Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

DISABILITY SERVICES ACT 1986 - SECT 7

                   In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

"accommodation support services" means services to assist persons with disabilities to develop or maintain suitable residential arrangements in the community and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes attendant care services, namely, services to persons with disabilities to assist them with personal administration, transport, mobility, transfers, personal hygiene, bathing, grooming, dressing, eating and drinking, and similar personal activities.

"advocacy service" means:

                     (a)  a service that seeks to support persons with disabilities to exercise their rights and freedoms, being rights and freedoms recognised or declared by the Disabilities Convention, through:

                              (i)  one-to-one support; or

                             (ii)  supporting them to advocate for themselves, whether individually, through a third party or on a group basis; or

                     (b)  a service that seeks to introduce and influence long-term changes to ensure that the rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities, being rights and freedoms recognised or declared by the Disabilities Convention, are attained and upheld so as to positively affect the quality of their lives; or

                     (c)  a service included in a class of services approved by the Minister under section 9B.

"applicable standards" for a service means:

                     (a)  for an eligible service--the eligibility standards; or

                     (b)  for an employment service in respect of which a transitional grant is being received--the standards referred to in paragraph 12AB(2)(c).

"competitive employment training and placement services" means services (also known as open employment services) to assist persons with disabilities to obtain and retain, or retain, paid employment in the work-force, and includes:

                     (a)  services to increase the independence, productivity or integration of persons with disabilities in work settings; and

                     (b)  employment preparation, and employment and vocational training services; and

                     (c)  services to assist the transition of persons with disabilities from special education, or employment in supported work settings, to paid employment in the work-force.

"Disabilities Convention" means the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities done at New York on 13 December 2006.

Note:          The text of the Convention is set out in Australian Treaty Series 2008 No. 12 ([2008] ATS 12). In 2011, the text of a Convention in the Australian Treaty Series was accessible through the Australian Treaties Library on the AustLII website (www.austlii.edu.au).

"disability advocacy standards" means the standards determined by the Minister under paragraph 5A(1)(ba) in relation to the provision of an advocacy service.

"disability employment standards" means the standards determined by the Minister under paragraph 5A(1)(b) in relation to the provision of an employment service.

"eligibility standards" means the standards determined by the Minister under paragraph 5A(1)(a) in relation to the provision of eligible services.

"eligible organisation" means:

                     (a)  a body corporate (other than a body corporate that is carried on for the purpose of profit or gain to its individual members);

                     (b)  a local governing body established by or under a law of a State or Territory;

                     (c)  a tertiary institution within the meaning of the Employment, Education and Training Act 1988 ; or

                     (d)  any other society, association or body approved by the Minister for the purposes of this definition.

"eligible service" means a service of any of the following kinds:

                     (a)  accommodation support services;

                     (c)  independent living training services;

                     (d)  information services;

                     (e)  print disability services;

                      (f)  recreation services;

                     (g)  respite care services;

                     (h)  services included in a class of services approved by the Minister under section 9.

"employment service" means a service for persons with disabilities that either:

                     (a)  provides, or facilitates access to, wage generating employment for the majority of its clients; or

                     (b)  has as its primary goal the achievement of paid employment for its clients;

and, without limiting the generality of the above, includes a service of any of the following kinds:

                     (c)  competitive employment training and placement services;

                     (d)  supported employment services;

                     (e)  services that, immediately before 1 July 2002, were transitional services within the meaning of this Act as in force at that time;

                      (f)  services that, immediately before 1 July 2002, were prescribed services within the meaning of this Act as in force at that time;

                     (g)  services included in a class of services approved by the Minister under section 9A.

"independent living training services" means services to assist persons with disabilities to develop or maintain the personal skills and self-confidence necessary to enhance their independence, and self-reliance, in the community.

"information services" means services to facilitate access to information by:

                     (a)  persons with disabilities; and

                     (b)  the families of, and other persons who provide care for or assistance to, persons with disabilities;

and includes:

                     (c)  services to provide the information necessary to enable persons with disabilities to live full lives as members of the community (whether the information is provided to those persons or generally to persons in the community); and

                     (d)  services to facilitate access by persons with disabilities to information available generally to persons in the community.

"orders" means the orders made by the Minister under section 14F.

pre-2002-03 grant has the meaning given by subsection 12AA(1).

"print disability services" means services to facilitate access to, or the use of, printed materials by persons who, because of disabilities, are unable to read, hold or manipulate printed materials in standard form.

"receiving a grant of financial assistance" : a State or eligible organisation is taken to be receiving a particular grant of financial assistance from the time when the grant is approved until immediately after payment, or payment of the last instalment, of the grant is made.

"recreation services" means services to facilitate the integration of, and participation by, persons with disabilities in recreation and leisure activities available generally to persons in the community.

"research or development activity" means:

                     (a)  research with respect to the provision of services for persons included in the target group;

                     (b)  the investigation of the need for services for persons included in the target group;

                     (c)  the initiation of services for persons included in the target group;

                     (d)  the planning of the provision of eligible services for persons included in the target group;

                     (e)  the development of proposals for the provision of eligible services for persons included in the target group;

                      (f)  the development or implementation of training programs for:

                              (i)  persons engaged in the provision of eligible services; or

                             (ii)  the families of, and other persons who provide care for or assistance to, persons included in the target group;

                     (g)  the investigation of outcomes achieved by persons included in the target group by the provision of eligible services; or

                     (h)  other activities approved by the Minister, by legislative instrument, for the purposes of this definition.

"respite care services" means services for relief or assistance, for a limited period of time and whether on a planned or unplanned basis, to:

                     (a)  the families of, and other persons who provide care for or assistance to, persons with disabilities living in the community; or

                     (b)  persons with disabilities living in the community.

"service" includes a service consisting of the supplying of goods, whether or not accompanied by the provision of other services.

"State" includes the Northern Territory.

"supported employment services" means services to support the paid employment of persons with disabilities, being persons:

                     (a)  for whom competitive employment at or above the relevant award wage is unlikely; and

                     (b)  who, because of their disabilities, need substantial ongoing support to obtain or retain paid employment.

"transitional grant" of financial assistance means a grant of financial assistance approved under Subdivision A of Division 2A of Part II.

"transitional period" means the period:

                     (a)  beginning on 1 July 2002; and

                     (b)  ending on 31 December 2004.