Tuesday, 12 May 2026

 David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:56): (2505) The adjournment matter I wish to raise this evening is for the attention of the Minister for Government Services. We live in a complex world, and this provides us with amazing opportunities, conveniences and entertainment, but it also means that there are often more services we need to engage with, and many of them are government services. For people with disabilities, particularly those who are blind or vision impaired, this complex world also provides opportunities and challenges. New forms of technology can make the world more accessible, and done the right way, this also includes the digital environment. But we are not talking about being able to navigate Netflix; government services are being shifted more and more online to portals, and while this might be more efficient and more convenient for many, when disability access is not embedded in design from the beginning, blind people can be locked out.

This issue is not theoretical, it is lived every day by people with severe vision impairment, including those in my own community. Increasingly, accessing health care, banking, government services and even basic retail transactions requires navigating websites, apps, automated checkouts and security systems that simply do not work with screen readers or non-visual navigation. Digital exclusion of this kind is not merely an inconvenience, it is a form of discrimination. While Commonwealth laws such as the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 exist, the Victorian government also has direct responsibility for how its own services are designed, delivered, procured and monitored. Government administration must reflect the reality that digital access is now fundamental to civic participation. Disability inclusion cannot stop at physical access ramps and signage. In a digital-first environment, accessibility must be embedded into platforms, documents, forms and service delivery from the outset and not treated as an afterthought or delegated to individuals to work around. The action I am seeking is practical and achievable: to direct departments and funded services to audit accessibility, aligned with recognised accessibility standards, and to ensure non-digital alternatives remain genuinely available.