​Tracy Mackey

Tracy Mackey

Commissioner Tracy Mackey's address at the book launch - Disability Practice: Safeguarding Quality Service Delivery

Before I start, I begin by acknowledging the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation whose land we meet on.

I recognise their strength, resilience and capacity on this land, which they have inhabited for more than 40,000 years.

I pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging, and I extend that respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here.

I also acknowledge any people with lived experience of disability who are with us.

Official launch                                                  

Today we celebrate an important contribution to the disability sector, with the publication of Disability Practice: Safeguarding Quality Service Delivery.

Let me begin by congratulating the co-editors, Professor Christine Bigby and Alan Hough, and the authors of each chapter for your achievement. I am sure your work will be a key resource for researchers, students and practitioners in the field of disability practice.

It was an honour to contribute the Foreword for this book and I thank Christine and Alan for extending the invitation.

Background to the Foreword

I was approached by Alan and Chris to write the Foreword around April last year.

At the time, I was just over a year into my role as NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner.

We’d not long launched our first Strategic Plan internally, where we’d firmly stated our commitment to:

the rights of people with disability

high quality supports and services, and

greater choice for consumers.

So, it was very motivating when I read an early draft of Disability Practice, as I’ll call it, and saw the importance it also placed on understanding the quality of life, rights and lived experience of people with disability.

In the Foreword, I suggest that focusing on quality encourages us to focus on the best possible outcomes when we design and deliver disability supports and services – rather than guarding against the worst.