Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Hansard source

The Business Services Wage Assessment Tool Payment Scheme Bill 2014 and the related bill before the House today go to a very complex issue. Labor understands this very well. This bill will establish a payment scheme for supported employees with intellectual impairment in Australian disability enterprises, commonly known as ADEs, who previously had their wages assessed under the Business Services Wage Assessment Tool, commonly known as the BSWAT.

ADEs are commercial businesses employing people with disability who need support to stay in paid work. There are almost 200 ADEs across Australia, supporting around 20,000 workers with a disability. Employees are paid a pro rata wage, determined using a wage tool, including the BSWAT, which was developed in 2003. It was designed to measure an employee's productivity and competence in performing a job. It has been used by successive coalition and Labor governments to determine the wages of about half of all workers in ADEs—around 10,000 people.

However, in 2011, two employees challenged the BSWAT in the Federal Court of Australia. Mr Prior and Mr Nojin did not seek compensation for wages lost. They sought a declaration from the court—a declaration they received. The Federal Court found that the tool was indirectly discriminatory against these two employees with an intellectual disability. The Federal Court reasoned that the BSWAT was indirectly discriminatory because a supported employee with an intellectual disability may never be able to meet the competency component measured by the tool. Further representative proceedings are in train. And the legal proceedings in train may take some time to resolve.

In September 2013, during the caretaker period, the Commonwealth sought a three-year exemption from certain sections of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. As I said, this application was made during the caretaker period. It was supported by both sides of the House. The application was made to allow the continued use of the BSWAT in ADEs while the implications of the Full Federal Court decisions are worked through and a new wage assessment process investigated.

In April 2014, the Australian Human Rights Commission granted the Commonwealth a 12-month exemption whilst a new wage assessment tool was developed. Labor understands that the Australian Human Rights Commission did not take this decision lightly. The commission considered a number of issues in making its decision for an exemption, such as whether an exemption would progress the objects of the Disability Discrimination Act. Advancing the objectives of the Disability Discrimination Act is rightly the commission's primary concern—objectives such as the elimination of discrimination against people with disability, including in the area of employment, and to ensure that people with disability get equal treatment before the law and that they have the same fundamental rights as the rest of the community.

As I said, this is a very complex issue. Labor fully appreciates the complexities involved. Labor understands why the government has decided to establish the payment scheme through this bill today. And Labor will support the passage of this bill through the House. The payment scheme established by the bill intends to help employees with a disability. The idea of the scheme is to provide some reassurance to supported employees and their families and carers.

From 1 July 2014, former and current employees will be eligible to participate in the scheme in relation to work they have performed in the past. The scheme will essentially provide a top-up payment to eligible people who have had their wages assessed under BSWAT. Importantly, applicants must seek financial counselling and legal advice before their application is assessed. Access to legal advice and financial counselling is funded through the scheme. This is of critical importance to Labor—that people who choose to participate in the scheme do so because they have made an informed decision. The scheme also includes an internal and external review process so that people with a disability have the opportunity to raise any concerns. The accompanying bill, the Business Services Wage Assessment Tool Payment Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2014, provides the consequential amendments that need to be made to Commonwealth legislation in light of the new scheme. For example, amendments to the social security law and the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 will ensure the payments are not income tested and so will not reduce the income support payments of supported employees who receive payments under the scheme.

The former Labor government delivered for Australians with disability and their families and carers after a decade of neglect by the previous Liberal government. Labor very strongly believes that people with disability, and their families and carers, deserve the same opportunities as other Australians to participate in the community and to access better education and employment opportunities so they can achieve their goals and aspirations. Just as Labor built Medicare, so Labor built the National Disability Insurance Scheme—already changing the lives of more than 5,000 Australians, as well as the lives of their families and carers.

If rolled out in full and on time, as the Prime Minister has promised to do, the NDIS will deliver support to around 460,000 people with disability and their families and carers. It will give people with disability more choice and control over how they receive this support. The NDIS is also an economic reform that will create jobs and unlock the productivity of people with disability and their carers.

The NDIS is the most significant reform in a generation. It is also the key plank in Labor's broader plan to give Australians with disability a fair go. The National Disability Strategy developed by the previous Labor government, alongside disability advocates, is a 10-year framework to improve the inclusion and participation of people with disability right across our community. Labor championed the National Disability Strategy as the key avenue for Australia to implement obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Labor has been a champion of the rights of people with disability. Sadly, this government has scrapped the position of Disability Discrimination Commissioner. This would have been a short-sighted decision at any time, let alone when the National Disability Insurance Scheme is rolling out across the country. The loss of Graeme Innes as our nation's first full-time Disability Discrimination Commissioner means that, across Australia, people with disability and their families will lose the protection of one of their strongest and most experienced advocates.

When talking to disability stakeholders about the detail of the legislation before the House today, Labor was very disappointed to learn that the government had not consulted with those key stakeholders on the details of the payment scheme they are seeking to establish through this legislation. Labor intends to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to have their say through a Senate legislative inquiry. It is of critical importance that the government get on with the very important job of developing a new wage assessment process—one that does not discriminate against anyone with disability. The government must ensure wage-setting arrangements are nondiscriminatory and fair for all people with disability and they must work very closely with the disability sector to achieve this.

There remains an enormous amount of work to be done and Labor urges the government to get on with that work. As I said, Labor fully appreciates the complexities involved. Labor understands why the government has decided to establish the payment scheme through this legislation today and Labor will support the passage of these bills through the House.

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