Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This morning, like many of our other colleagues here, I was privileged to attend the BuyAbility breakfast put on by the National Disability Services initiative. I met with fellow Territorians Noelene Swanson from the NT government and Tony Burns, the CEO of Helping People Achieve, HPA. The vital support of the employment sector is concerned that the viability of disability enterprises—those businesses or organisations that employ people with a disability and support them in their work—is threatened by current economic conditions and a changing regulatory environment.

The BuyAbility campaign highlights the social and economic benefits of supported employment for people with disability, and it has been a pleasure to work with Tony Burns in particular and to liaise with Commonwealth agencies such as Defence in order to see ways that, at every level of government—local, territory and federal—there can be partnerships with organisations like HPA.

HPA, like many other of these organisations, sees the BuyAbility campaign as an opportunity to work collaboratively with local, state or territory governments and the federal government. I commend Dr Ken Baker from National Disability Services as well as the NT government and Tony Burns from HPA for their dedication to the cause of supported employment.