Is a lack of sufficient government funding or provision of disability services discrimination under the DDA?
No, not in itself. The Disability Discrimination Act (and equivalent State and Territory laws) do not make in unlawful for governments to fail to establish or fund adequate programs or services for people with disabilities. This legislation only makes it unlawful to discriminate in access to whatever programs and services governments do put in place. Securing adequate funding for treatment, rehabilitation and other disability specialist services remains largely a matter of political processes and attempting to persuade governments to give a higher priority to disability issues. However, the Disability Discrimination Act does apply where inadequate funding or support leads to discrimination in services which government does provide (for example in public school education).
