MEDIA RELEASE
Welfare check changes: WA Police has changed its rules around when they send officers out on a welfare check to reduce “resourcing issues.”
Welfare checks are sometimes requested by people with disability with concerns about the wellbeing of loved ones or people they know.
Other times welfare checks are requested about people with disability, including when a person is genuinely concerned and other times to harass someone or outsource abuse.
Disability advocates at PWdWA have learned WA Police is using a new risk matrix to triage welfare check requests.
A WA Police representative receiving a request will make a judgement call on whether the situation is one where there is:
- evidence of an imminent risk of serious harm or death
- a criminal offence (including family violence) that is alleged or likely to have occurred
- a child is at risk of serious harm
- a person reasonably suspected to be deceased.
Where there is an imminent risk, WA Police officers will attend. Where the risk is considered non-priority the request will reportedly be put into a central triage unit for handling. The unit can then send follow-ups by SMS if people request them.
Police are reportedly experiencing less “resourcing issues” since the change, but disability advocates warn this could mean more people are falling through the cracks.
PWdWA disability advocate Lisa Thomas raised concerns about the welfare of people who did not meet WA Police’s criteria of people being at an immediate risk.
“We have a large number of people, in our disability community who experience suicidal ideation due to mental health crisis,” Ms Thomas said.
Advocates warn people can still be at risk of self-harming or suicide, even if they don’t say they are contemplating it, so limiting any responses to only ones where people say they are going to kill themselves could mean more people die or cause serious harm.
“People’s previous experiences with the mental health hospitalisation can make them less likely to reach out for help when in crisis for fear of being place back into the mental health hospital system,” the individual advocate explained.
Welfare checks have a role in supporting people with disability, either as the person being the one concerned, or the one whose welling is being inquired about.
#PWdWA #Disability #MentalHealth #WelfareChecks @WAPol
PWdWA.media.release.welfare.checks.March.2026.pdf
People with Disabilities is a membership organisation that represents all people with disability in WA. It is a disability-led disabled people’s organisation with a staff and board with disability and neurodivergence. PWdWA is disability representative organisation, representing people with disability on individual advocacy cases and systemically, as we work together to improve the lives of people with disability and fight for their rights together.
Media contact
Name: Amanda Ellis
Position: PWdWA Disability Advocate
Email: amanda@pwdwa.org
Phone: +61 438 003 868, +61 8 6288 7129
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-ellis-au
Disability advocacy intake team
Name: Intake team
Phone: +61 8 6243 6948 (metro areas), 1800 193 331 (regional callers)
Email: dutyadvocate@pwdwa.org