Annette Ellis (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment Participation. Will the minister update the House on measures to improve rates of employment for people with a disability?

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment Participation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I thank the member for Canberra for her question. She has an enduring and genuine interest in people with disabilities in her electorate but also beyond that, and I do thank her and appreciate the question she has asked. It is an important issue.

The government has reversed what I see as an unfair and harsh policy of the previous government where, in order to actively look for a job, a person on the disability support pension had to first go through an assessment that would risk their benefit, even before they had found a job. I am delighted to update the House today that, as of Monday, 8 September, last week, disability support pensioners are able to be assessed for which service is most appropriate but of course they are able to do so without the eligibility assessment occurring.

For years those opposite were told that this was a great disincentive for recipients of DSP to seek work and to find their way off income support, but they did nothing. This matter was put to the previous government time and time again, and they failed to respond and to provide opportunities for people with disabilities. This policy ineptitude was underlined by the HILDA survey in 2006, which estimated that there were 400,000 Australians with a disability that were looking for a job or wanted an increase in hours. We needed to do something about that. This decision will open up opportunities for people on the disability support pension.

The result of the assessment under the previous Liberal government, however, would have seen people risk losing up to $55 a week—before they even attended their first job interview. I know for many of those opposite, including today’s Leader of the Opposition, $55 may not seem a lot of money, but for those people in receipt of the disability support pension it is an enormous amount of money and it is a profound disincentive for those people to seek work and find a way to reduce their reliance on welfare. We make this decision knowing it provides opportunities for those people on the pension to look for work without the threat of losing income—that is why we have changed it.

This decision by the government has been well received by disability support recipients but also by disability employment providers, employers and others. ACE, the peak body representing the disability employment sector, has responded to this decision and said it:

… overturns ill-informed policy decisions of the past which unfortunately caused much harm to … people with disability around the country and dashed their hopes of ever securing work and making their contribution to society.

The government has also received support from business leaders, including the AiG. The AiG and other employer bodies understand that there are capacity constraints and productivity constraints in the economy created by a chronic skill shortage—which is of course a legacy left by the opposition to this nation—a skill crisis that the Rudd government is responding to by increasing training places and providing opportunities for people to be equipped with the skills to fill existing vacancies.

What we have done through this decision has given opportunities to people with disability to seek work without losing income, because we respect those people who are on that income. We want all Australians to be provided with opportunities—whether in the area of employment, education or training—to have a fulfilling life. For that reason we have overturned a policy that for many years treated thousands of Australians without dignity or respect.