Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

These bills, the Business Services Wage Assessment Tool Payment Scheme Bill 2014 and the related bill, are important legislation. They are legislation the opposition will be supporting.

I listened with some interest to the member for Barton; he said the previous government did not legislate in this area. The previous government was in the process of consulting with the community—consulting with all the players in the space—and was in the process of developing legislation. I forgive the member for Barton; he is only a new member in this place and his ability to assert such information is probably very limited.

Turning to the bill, I would firstly like to say it is imperative that people with intellectual disability be able to maximise their potential and be given the opportunity of being recompensed for the work they do. I previously worked with people with intellectual disability and other disabilities. I know just how important and how valuable it is to people with an intellectual disability to be able to work and be valued in the way other people work and are valued.

The role of government is to put in place a framework within which they are able to do this—where they are recognised, where they are able to be offered employment and where they are able to succeed. I have a very good business enterprise centre in my electorate, the House with No Steps; also operating in my region is Access Industries. The House with No Steps has created opportunities and employment for many people with intellectual disability over a very long period of time, and working for that business enterprise centre has changed the lives of many people with intellectual disability.

This bill will establish a new payment scheme for supported employees with intellectual impairments, in Australian disability enterprises such as the House with No Steps, who previously had their wages assessed under the Business Services Wage Assessment Tool. The scheme will essentially provide a top up payment to eligible people who have been assessed under the BSWAT. If eligibility is established, a payment amount will be offered based on half the amount the worker would have been paid by the productivity element of the BSWAT being applied. This new scheme follows a Federal Court ruling that found the BSWAT to be indirectly discriminatory towards two employees with intellectual disability whose wages were assessed using the tool.

The Australian Human Rights Commission has provided the Commonwealth with 12 months exemption from the Disability Discrimination Act while a new wage assessment tool is developed. I would like to strongly encourage the government to work toward finalising that assessment tool and to consult widely with those involved—both those within the business services industry and people with intellectual disability and their advocates—because it is imperative that tool be developed and people with intellectual disability not be left hanging, waiting for it to be completed. The lack of consultation by the government in developing a tool that is going to be truly useful and truly fair worries me. We need to have the maximum possible consultation.

To be eligible for the payment scheme a person must have an intellectual impairment, been employed by an ADE and been paid a pro rata wage determined under the assessment tool. They must have required daily support in the workplace from the ADE to maintain their employment. These are very important requirements because, if they are not met, there is really no strong argument for the payment to apply. Applicants must seek financial counselling and legal advice before their application is assessed. Access to legal advice through Legal Aid, and to financial counselling through the Commonwealth Financial Counselling service, is funded through the scheme. That is to ensure the person with intellectual disability actually gets the information and the advice they need to make the decision. If a person does sign up—if the applicant accepts an offer—they will cease to be a group member of the representative proceedings and will be unable to make further claims in relation to the assessment of wages under the tool. It is imperative that the person gets the right sort of advice and has that legal and financial counselling, so that they or their advocate can determine whether it is in their interest to go that way. The scheme will remain open until 15 November 2015.

The Business Services Wage Assessment Tool Payment Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2014 provides consequential amendments that need to be made to the Commonwealth legislation in light of the new scheme. For example, amendments to the tax law will ensure payments under the scheme are eligible income for the lump sum in arrears tax offsets. Amendments to the social security laws 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 confidentiality provisions in the social security law will be adjusted to make sure that personal information can be obtained and disclosed for the purpose of administering the new scheme.

As you can see, this is quite complex legislation and it is legislation that needs to be put in place so that supported employees with intellectual disabilities in Australian disability enterprises, who previously had their wage assessed under the Business Services Wage Assessment Tool, will be in a position of security and will have the knowledge that the payments received will be in line with the law.

There are almost 200 Australian disability enterprises across Australia supporting around 20,000 workers with disabilities. That is a very significant number of disability enterprises and a very significant number of workers. These workers really need to be protected by legislation to ensure that they are not exploited, to ensure that they get the recompense that they deserve, to ensure that they enjoy a good quality of life and to ensure that they can go to work each day and receive the same sorts of rewards that other people receive when they go to work.

The Business Services Wage Assessment Tool was first developed in 2003 and the tool measures an employee's productivity and competence in performing a job. It is used to determine the wages of about half of all Australian disability enterprises. However, as has been mentioned by previous speakers, two employees recently challenged the Business Services Wage Assessment Tool in the Federal Court. The Federal Court found that the tool discriminated against these employees and that, hence, it could discriminate against other employees. The Federal Court found that a supported employee with an intellectual disability may never be able to meet the competency component measured by the tool, so further representative proceedings are in train.

This brings me to the comments by the member for Barton. This shows that this is not an open and shut process; rather, it is an ongoing process. There has been a 12-month exemption put in place because this is state legislation. The exemption is giving 12 months for the final tool to be developed and I really hope that it is done with the proper level of community consultation. That exemption was granted in April this year.

This is a very complex issue, as has been stated by previous speakers in this debate, and Labor understands that. We want the best legislation to be put in place and for the best protection to be provided to workers with an intellectual disability. We understand that it is because this issue is so complex that the government has decided to establish the payment scheme set out in this bill today. The idea of the scheme is to provide some reassurance to support employees, their families and their carers. The payment scheme will commence on 1 July this year and that is why it is quite important for it to pass through the House. Former and current employees will be eligible to participate in the scheme and to receive payment in relation to work they have performed in the past. It is critically important to Labor that people who choose to participate in the scheme do so on an informed basis. That goes back to the financial and legal advice funded through the scheme. It is so important that employees are able to access that.

I encourage the government to get on with this very important job of developing a new wage assessment process that does not discriminate against anyone with any type of disability. I encourage the government to consult widely. I know that we on this side of the House want this to go to a Senate committee for an inquiry to look at all aspects of it. I think that is very prudent. I think that the overall emphasis of any legislation in the area of disability—and particularly in the area of intellectual disability—should be ensuring that the people who will be covered by the legislation will be advantaged, not disadvantaged. I think it should be ensuring that the legislation will provide protection, not promote discrimination or set up a situation where people with an intellectual disability are exploited and receive low wages for the job they do and for their level of productivity. So, as the parliamentary secretary has said, the opposition will be supporting this legislation.

I will be watching very carefully to ensure that the government makes sure that fairness is encapsulated in the final legislation when the assessment tool is finally developed. I conclude by saying consult widely with everybody involved in this area. It is important legislation and we need to maximise the potential of people with an intellectual disability. This can best be done by having a proper assessment tool in place so that they get their recompense for the work that they do.

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