House debates

Wednesday, 9 February 2011

Notices

Photo of Judi MoylanJudi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

to move:

That this House:

(1)
appreciates that meaningful employment is essential to the financial security, physical and mental health and sense of identity of all individuals;
(2)
remains concerned with the low workforce participation rate of individuals with a disability;
(3)
recognises the challenges faced by people with a disability in successfully obtaining work, particularly in surmounting barriers;
(4)
notes that:
(a)
eighteen and a half per cent of all Australians suffer from a disability;
(b)
data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals that since 1993, workplace participation for people with a disability has steadily decreased to 53.2 per cent, compared to the continual increase of participation in those without disability to 80.6 per cent; and
(c)
the Australian Public Service Commissioner's Statistical Bulletin shows employment of people with a disability in the Australian Public Service has linearly dropped from a high of 5.5 per cent in 1996, to 3.1 per cent in 2010;
(5)
acknowledges the findings of chapters 2.4 (‘The employment experience of people with disabilities’) and 2.5.2 (‘Lack of Access to Transport’) of the National Disability Strategy Consultation Report, Shut Out, that:
(a)
there are still widespread misconceptions and stereotypes influencing the attitudes and behaviour of employers, recruiters and government;
(b)
there is considerable misunderstanding in the community and overestimation about the cost of workplace adjustments for people with a disability;
(c)
there is confusion about the impact of occupational health and safety requirements on people with a disability;
(d)
inflexibility of the Disability Support Pension acts as a disincentive to employment and the loss of healthcare benefits is a particular disadvantage; and
(e)
without access to transport, participation in critical activities such as education, employment and healthcare is difficult, if not impossible; and
(6)
calls on the Government to provide leadership and improve participation rates of people with a disability.

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