Disability advocate and wheelchair user Shane Hryhorec says he returned to federal Disability Minister Mark Butler's Port Adelaide electorate office roughly a year after being unable to enter it, and found the same front steps, the same unanswered doorbell, and no accessible front entrance.
The office belongs to the minister responsible for disability policy and the NDIS which makes its own accessibility a pointed symbol rather than an ordinary complaint. In October 2025, Hryhorec's account of being stranded outside went viral and prompted a Human Rights Commission complaint; his office said at the time that discussions were underway to secure a more inclusive space. According to Hryhorec's own account, that discussion has not yet produced a fix.
Hryhorec is a Melbourne-based disability advocate, public speaker and entrepreneur who sustained a spinal cord injury in 2007. He's known for advocacy on accessible travel and transport, including a widely reported 2024 dispute with Virgin Australia over a custom wheelchair, and runs a travel-accessibility project called Wheel Around the World.
Butler has held the disability portfolio since May 2025, alongside his role as Minister for Health and Ageing.
What has happened earlier?
In October 2025, Hryhorec said he arrived at Butler's office for a meeting on disability issues and found the main entrance was by stairs, with a sign directing wheelchair users to a doorbell that turned out to be broken. He was eventually let in through a rear entrance he described as used for deliveries, via a ramp without handrails. He lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission. A spokesperson for Butler told the ABC at the time that "the minister's office remains accessible," citing a 2016 confirmation from Ministerial and Parliamentary Services that the office met Disability Discrimination Act requirements for "equitable access as far as reasonably practicable," with ramp access at the rear of the building while also saying discussions were underway to find a more inclusive space.
Describing the return visit in a recent post, Hryhorec wrote: "Same office. Same steps. I rang the doorbell and nobody came. It took someone else walking up the stairs and knocking before a staff member answered."
No fresh, on-record response from Butler's office or the Department of Finance regarding the return visit has surfaced in reporting available at this time.
