Strengthening disability safeguards through Community Visitor Schemes

Overview

The Australian Government is working with states and territories to make disability Community Visitor Schemes (CVS) more consistent across Australia. This follows the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability’s recommendation for nationally consistent approaches to CVS. This project is part of broader safeguarding work in response to the Disability Royal Commission’s recommendations.

Community visitors are independent people who visit supported accommodation or facilities to check on the wellbeing and safety of people with disability. At the moment, CVS vary across states and territories, and Western Australia and Tasmania do not currently have a scheme.

Whereto Research (an independent agency) is running a second round of public consultation to get feedback on draft national CVS principles. The draft principles reflect what we heard in the first round of consultation in September 2025.

For details on how to get involved, visit our How to be involved section.

This consultation is focused on checking and refining the draft principles. These will set out what community visitors do and how CVS can better protect people with disability.

Western Australia and Tasmania do not currently have a CVS.  We still want to hear from people from Western Australia and Tasmania so we can understand what you think is important in a CVS. However any decision to create a CVS in these states will be made by their state governments.

Respecting your time and input

We know that many people, especially people with disability, are being asked to contribute to multiple consultations. We will use the insights from these consultations rather than asking people to repeat the same information. This includes work linked to the Disability Royal Commission, the NDIS Review, and Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031).

What we heard

We used feedback from round 1 to develop a draft set of national principles for CVS. In round 2 of public consultation, we want feedback on these draft principles to guide more consistent future approaches to CVS across Australia. Your feedback will help ensure the principles are practical, well understood and fit for purpose.

Building on earlier feedback, we want to understand:

• if the principles clearly describe the role and purpose of CVS
• how well the principles respond to current risks, gaps and challenges
• opportunities to strengthen outcomes for people with disability across different settings.

Why your views matter

We want to ensure people most affected by CVS can share their thoughts.

Your input will help us to:

• understand community and sector views on the draft CVS principles
• identify strengths, gaps and areas for improvement
• inform ongoing work to support nationally consistent, person-centred safeguarding approaches.

We encourage feedback from:

• people with disability
• families, friends and carers
• disability accommodation and service providers
• advocates, representative organisations and supporters
• community visitors
• peak bodies and government agencies.

All feedback will directly inform ongoing work to consider opportunities for nationally consistent approaches to CVS across Australia.

Supporting resources

Please download and read the consultation materials that best meet your needs before providing your feedback:

• Discussion paper 2: Strengthening disability safeguards through CVS (PDF)
• Discussion paper  – Easy Read summary (PDF)
• Discussion paper  – Plain English summary (PDF)
• Discussion paper – Auslan summary (Watch video here)
• Questionnaire – Easy Read summary (PDF)
• Questionnaire and how to participate – Auslan summary (Watch video here).

Please contact Whereto Research if you need materials in another format
at CVSproject@wheretoresearch.com.au.

Privacy

Your personal information is protected by law, including under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

It is important for you to know:

• we will not be able to reply to your submission
• any information you provide can be subject to freedom of information requests, which we must comply with by law
• your feedback will inform a final summary report.

Details about how your personal information will be collected, used and protected by Whereto are outlined in Whereto's Privacy Collection Notice.

Whereto won’t share your personal information with the department. Instead, a summary report will be created with all personal details removed, and that’s what the department will receive. Details about what information will be collected, used and protected by the department are outlined in the department's Privacy Collection Notice.