Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to refer tonight, and seek a response, to what I see as a continuing scandal in Public Service employment as it relates to the employment of people with disabilities. The particular responsibility in this area lies with the Public Service Commission, and therefore under the aegis of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Public Service Commissioner’s own report, the State of the service report 2004-05, states—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, as the Public Service Commissioner State of the Service Report 2004-05 makes clear:

Over the past decade the data shows a consistent decline in the employment of people reporting a disability as a proportion of APS employees. At June 2005 people with a disability represented 3.8 per cent of ongoing APS employees, down from 3.9 per cent last year and from 5.4 per cent in 1996.

If the percentage remained the same, there would be 2,000 more people with disabilities employed in the Australian Public Service. It goes on to say some things about the changing structure of the Public Service, which clearly is part of the explanation, and I accept that. But it says:

... the past 10 years has seen a decline in the representation of people with a disability at all classification levels.

It really is a serious indictment. To put the numbers away from percentage terms, there were 7,008 people with a disability in 1996 and 4,642 in 2005. Allowing for a slight drop in the overall size of Public Service employment, the effective difference, if we had maintained the percentage, is that there are 2,000 fewer people with a disability in the Public Service than previously.

This is not a one off. Since 1996 the proportion of people with a disability has fallen every year except 2003, when it plateaued—5.4; 5.3; 5.1; 4.8; 4.5; 4.2; then it was 4 per cent for two years; 3.9 and in 2005, 3.8. I say to the government that, if it is genuinely concerned about employment for people with disabilities, start employing some. I notice that the Minister for Employment, who is also the Minister assisting the Prime Minister on Public Service matters, has called a roundtable to encourage employers to take on more people with a disability. I do not have any disagreement with him doing that and I suppose no-one would be rude enough when they turn up to say: ‘We’re all doing better than you, Minister, and it would be good if you showed an example.’

What is happening is a disgrace. It is happening quietly, without any fanfare, without any analysis, without any commentary. It is a disgrace. The government is putting pressure on people with disabilities to go back into the workforce; some of the measures I agree with, some I do not. But the outcome is a desirable objective, that is to say: we want more of the people who have disabilities in our community and have the capacity to work to be in employment.

The Public Service Commissioner’s statement of Public Service values makes it clear that it wants to recognise and utilise the diversity of the Australian community it serves. It wants to promote equity in employment. It wants to provide opportunity to all eligible members of the community to apply for APS employment.

The State of the service report 2003-04 found a similar trend of declining recruitment levels and retention rates for Indigenous employment. The government did respond. At this stage I cannot indicate the success of the response—I am not going there because it is probably too soon to measure—but they did respond with an attempt to institute a centralised strategy to increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment in the public sector. It is time they did the same for people with a disability. What is happening now is a scandal. It is totally unacceptable. I would like to see by the next budget that the government has initiated, and the Public Service Commission is implementing, a similar centralised strategy to increase disability employment in the Public Service.

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