Adults living with disability and older people have the right to make decisions about their own lives, but NSW systems do not always support this in practice. Mental Health Coordinating Council has welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the NSW Joint Parliamentary Committee’s Inquiry into Supported Decision-Making.

Mental Health Coordinating Council presented to the Committee on Ageing and Disability in May and shared its perspectives with the cross parliamentary members of both houses. We will keep members informed as the Inquiry progresses.

 

What it’s about

Mental Health Coordinating Council (MHCC) has made a submission to the NSW Joint Parliamentary Committee Inquiry into Supported Decision-Making for adults living with disability and older people in NSW, drawing on our experience of building understanding and practice of supported decision-making across the community-managed mental health sector.

Supported decision-making is an approach that helps people – in this case adults living with disability or older Australians – make their own decisions by giving them the support they need to understand information, consider their options and communicate their will and preferences, instead of decisions being made for them.

background

The NSW Joint Parliamentary Committee Inquiry is examining the role and functions of the Ageing and Disability Commission (ADC) in relation to supported decision-making and considering options to improve how supported decision-making is carried out across NSW.

As the peak body for New South Wales’s community-managed mental health sector, MHCC welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the Inquiry, particularly based on the organisation’s experience of introducing supported decision-making into sector development and capacity-building activities.

MHCC’s submission reinforces that the Inquiry is important from a human rights perspective because supported decision-making helps people maintain autonomy over their own lives, exercise choice and uphold legal agency. This meets Australia’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Why this matters

Without clear system leadership, safeguards and an enforceable preference for supported decision-making, people risk having their rights overridden through default reliance on substitute decision-making – which involves someone else making decisions on their behalf. Substitute decision-making is more likely in crises, when decisions are rushed, or in services that are understaffed or focused more on avoiding harm than listening to the persons needs.

MHCC argues that the ADC is uniquely positioned to lead, oversee, guide and enforce the systemic changes needed to make supported decision-making the default approach across NSW, ensuring rights are upheld and substitute decision-making is genuinely limited.

This is particularly important for people using the NDIS, future foundational supports, psychosocial supports delivered by community-managed organisations, and mainstream mental health services.

key issues

• Inconsistent recognition and implementation of supported decision-making across systems
• Risk-averse and coercive service cultures
• Lack of system-wide monitoring, accountability and transparency
• Fragmented and under-resourced practical supports for supported decision-making
• Cultural and intersectional barriers, particularly First Nations Peoples, culturally and linguistically diverse communities and other marginalised groups

our recommendations

MHCC recommends action in six key areas:

• Strengthen the ADC’s leadership, oversight and guidance role
• Establish supported decision-making as the default and enforceable approach
• Limit substitute decision-making through safeguards, duties and review
• Invest in system and workforce capability to make supported decision-making work in practice
• Embed cultural safety, lived experience and intersectional approaches
• Align NSW laws and policy frameworks with supported decision-making and human rights obligations

what happens next

Submissions closed on 13 March 2026. Mental Health Coordinating Council has been invited to present to the Committee on Ageing and Disability in May and look forward to sharing their perspectives with the cross parliamentary members of both houses. We will keep members informed as the Inquiry progresses.