Do we like them?

Do we like Kurt Fearnley?

Our score: 8 out of 10. A long public record of backing others and no harmful words or company found, held back from the top only because the record on LGBTQ+ issues is thin.

Fearnley is one of Australia's best-known Paralympians: five Games, 13 medals including three golds, and the kind of reputation that gets a ferry named after you. Paralympics Australia describes him as a wheelchair racer who has since moved into administration. He has sat on the Paralympics Australia board and the IPC Athlete Council, and he is on the Brisbane 2032 organising committee.

The big career turn came in September 2022, when the government named him chair of the National Disability Insurance Agency. He was the first person with a disability to hold the job. At the announcement he said the scheme could not succeed without trust, and that participants should be able to see themselves in the agency.

He is not a cheerleader for the system, either. In a 2023 interview with Michelle Grattan he said the NDIS broadly works well, but that some parts need fundamental change to be financially sustainable. He also said the scheme had struggled to engage First Australians in a way that lets them thrive, and that reform has to keep participants' voices central.

Nothing new has turned up on him lately beyond his IPC vice-president bid in 2025. Paralympics Australia backed him as one of seven candidates for two spots at the Seoul general assembly. We couldn't confirm the result, so we won't guess. A colleague's description of him there was that he “listens, he engages and he acts with integrity”, though that is a supporter talking.

We found no lawsuits, court outcomes or allegations against him in our searches. That is not proof of a spotless life, but it is a clean sheet in the reporting we could find. A man who has swapped the racing chair for a board table to argue for other people's access and dignity gets a thumbs up from us.