Now that the Australian government has ratified the UN CRPD, it has to report to the UN about its progress towards making sure Australia meets its obligations under the CRPD. Australia's government report is due in August 2010. Public consultations on the content of this report are expected to be held in the first half of this year.

The UN relies heavily on one or more ‘shadow reports’ from community groups to assess whether the government has painted an accurate picture and to make recommendations for improvements.

Over the past six months AFDO has been involved in a significant, cross sector shadow reporting project. AFDO’s Project Officer, David Webb, has sat on the steering committee for the project, which has conducted consultations around Australia as well as taking submissions via the web.

People with disability and others who are interested are able to give their feedback to the shadow report project via the Disability Rights website.