Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment Participation. What action is the government taking to improve the rate of employment of people with disability?

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

I thank the member for Ballarat for her question. I know that she has an ongoing concern for people with disability in Ballarat and beyond. It is a very timely question because today is the International Day of People with Disability, and I am pleased to join with my colleagues the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Attorney-General and the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services, who this week have announced some significant initiatives to assist people with disability.

The Rudd government came into office with a commitment to reform employment services, including services for job seekers with disability. To commence the reform process the government announced earlier this year that we would change an absurd policy of the previous government that compelled DSP recipients to have their benefits reviewed before accessing employment services, thereby jeopardising their income just because they wanted to put their hand up for work. This roadblock to work has been abolished by the government, and that occurred on 8 September this year.

Today I am pleased to outline further significant initiatives to reform employment services in order to give job seekers with disability greater opportunities to contribute to the social and economic life of this country. First, the Rudd government proposes to uncap access to employment services for people with disability. As with universal employment services, job seekers with disability who need assistance will be able to obtain that in a timely fashion. Under the previous government system the people with the most severe disability were actually in a capped program, whereas people with lesser disability can generally access a place. This is a nonsensical policy—a counterproductive approach to assisting job seekers. This particular reform, after consultation with the disability sector, is considered an iconic reform.

The uncapping of access to services that I am announcing today will remove a major inequity that has led to both perverse and unfair outcomes. This change will allow specialist disability employment service providers to effectively assist school leavers with disability and help them transition into the workforce. Disability employment service providers will in future be able to have effective partnerships with schools to help students with disability plan to enter the workforce and avoid the cycle of welfare that so tragically befalls many people with disability in our community. Also, in line with changes and improvements to universal employment services, we will remove complexity and red tape in order to provide the opportunity for providers to devote their time to assisting clients, not to doing paperwork. These proposed reforms are the result of detailed consultations that I have had with job seekers, their advocates and providers. In coming weeks I will be asking for further feedback to fine tune these reforms, with the final details of the new system to be announced in the New Year.

We greatly value the contribution of people with disability in this country and that is why this week we have seen the Rudd government draft disability standards for access to premises to assist people with disability to access workplaces and other commercial buildings, and relief in the form of $1,400 for singles and $2,100 for couples flow to DSP recipients. These are important achievements. These are important reforms in this vital area of public policy, but we know that there is more work to be done. I look forward to working with my colleagues and indeed with the disability sector, employers and others to improve the lives of people with disability.