Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises that the rates of employment for people with disability in Australia is significantly less than people without disability;

(2) commends the efforts taken so far by disability advocates and a number of big and small businesses that are working to remedy this concerning trend;

(3) acknowledges the significant economic and productivity benefits of having in work, more Australians with disability; and

(4) calls on the Government to:

(a) engage with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) about the merits of the ASX extending its Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations to require reporting on the employment of people with disability; and

(b) explore ways to ensure companies employing more than 100 employees report on their efforts to employ more people with disability.

Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 1949, at the Australian Labor Party National Conference, then Prime Minister Ben Chifley said:

The success of the Labor Party at the next election depends, entirely, as it always has done, on the people who work.

His words still resonate decades later.

Ben Chifley put into words what those on this side of politics have always believed in: the value of work. He verbalised our core values in that wonderful speech about 'the light on the hill', the great objective, and he talked about the Labor Party and the labour movement giving people a helping hand. Our strength on this side of politics comes from those people who have worked, who do work and who want to work. Now, more than ever, this nation needs a healthy, highly educated, creative workforce. We need to encourage men and women to work, for we believe that everyone has a right to work, regardless of their gender, race, postcode or disability. As a nation we have gone a long way, but there is much more to be done.

Among the OECD countries, Australia is ranked 13th out of 19 in employment rates for people with a disability. A study conducted by Deloitte Access Economics in 2011 on the economic benefits of employing people with disabilities suggests that closing the gap between the labour-market participation rates and unemployment rates of people with and without disability by even just one third would result in a cumulative $43-billion increase in Australia's GDP over the next decade in real dollar terms. The Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers conducted by the ABS in 2009 showed the labour participation rate for people with disability aged 15 to 64 was 54.3 per cent, compared to 82.8 per cent for people without disability, and that rate largely remained unchanged from 1993 to 2006. In my home state of Queensland, the participation rate for people with disability in the workforce is even lower: it is 48.3 per cent. We are, as a nation, wrestling with the challenges of skill shortages, and we have a vastly untapped potential group of employees here.

We are passionate on this side of politics about getting people into jobs—maximising the capacity of those with disability who are willing and able to work—and I commend organisations like Centrelink, Disability Employment Services and Job Services Australia; Disability Employment Services are doing a good job in that regard. And we are supporting those on disability support pensions to work up to 30 hours a week without their payments being suspended or cancelled, subject to an income test.

In my electorate, the electorate of Blair, based on Ipswich in the Somerset region, we have about 4,000 people on a disability support pension. Recently, at a carers event, I advised Carers Queensland and those who were there that we have 4,313 carers who do wonderful work and contribute to part of the $40 billion nationally of unfunded assistance and care that is given each year—great people in our community who are great advocates for people with a disability, like Peter and Linda Tully, associated with Queenslanders with Disability Network; the Endeavour Foundation; MACH 1; Uniting Church care; WorkVentures; CODI; Focal Extended and others in my electorate.

But we need to tap the potential of those job seekers who have not been targeted so far. We are putting lots of effort in, and we are determined to take action to address workforce shortages and increase the employment of people with disability. The $2,000 Supported Wage System employer payment is available to employers who employed someone with disability for a minimum of 15 hours a week for over six months. But we recognise there are unconscious, systematic biases in the labour market against those people with disability. Even well-intentioned people can succumb to stereotypes. I commend the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations who has been a passionate advocate for disability employment along with the National Disability Insurance Scheme. As a government, we care that people with impairment are not getting first-class outcomes often, experiencing what Minister Shorten described as a 'jobs apartheid' in an otherwise great country.

Last Friday I held a DisabiliTEA outside my office in the Brassall Shopping Centre. Australians are generous by nature, and I was really chuffed and really touched by the support from local small businesses, who donated prizes and other sorts of assistance for people there with disability. It is often the small business people who really care and show their concern and communitarian spirit in what they do. But I believe we can all do better, and I believe large corporations ought to set the standard.

One of the options we need to discuss in this country is having Australian companies who employ more than 100 people report on how many employees with disability are on their payrolls. It is a simple, practical and relatively easy step towards equality in the workforce.

We need to engage with the Australian stock exchange to tackle a range of corporate biases. For instance, about 90 per cent of the boards of the ASX top 200 companies are full of men. We have relatively little ethnic diversity in our boards, and I would not hazard a guess about how many people with disability are on those boards either. Hiring people with disability is good for corporate Australia and it is good for the national bottom line. People with disability represent a massive untapped talent, particularly as the labour force shrinks with an ageing population.

I urge Minister Shorten to take further steps in relation to this. I know that he, along with Minister Ellis, has written to the ASX governing council seeking support in amending its Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations to require reporting on employment of people with disability. Members in this chamber will no doubt be aware of the inclusion of recommendations about diversity, particularly gender diversity, in the Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations and the positive effect that has had in promoting gender equity in key business and governance issues—but not enough yet, as the figures clearly show, with too few women on those boards. Extending the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations would assist, as it has done and will continue to do in relation to gender diversity, and I think it would represent an important step towards promoting cultural change and improving employment outcomes for people with disability.

But we also need direct action from government. I know that Labor governments undertake the tough task with respect to this, and we are setting up a National Disability Insurance Scheme. We put a billion dollars in the last budget towards launch sites in five states and territories but sadly, tragically and shamefully, not one in Queensland, my home state, because of the attitude taken by the LNP state government in Queensland.

On 3 December this year, I will hold my annual Blair Disability Links, an event that brings together disability service providers, including employers and those people who assist people who are suffering from disability—mental challenges, physical challenges and the like—to get jobs, into one place in a mini expo. We will launch again our Blair Disability Links booklet, which is like a one-stop shop, a little white pages or yellow pages for people. We give out literally hundreds and hundreds of those booklets all the time. They are probably the thing that gets picked up most at the mobile offices I have around Ipswich and the Somerset region. We will launch a fresh copy of that. I urge all those people who might be listening to contact my office—particularly Kylie Stoneman, who is doing a terrific job in my office organising that. We provide information in our community to help those people to get jobs, particularly in the many small businesses, because 96 per cent of people in the Ipswich and West Moreton region are employed in small businesses.

But corporate Australia have to make some tough decisions. They need to get on board in relation to this issue. It is no good just mouthing the words; they have to put them into action on disability. I know that privately and personally some of those company boards and directors are supportive of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and they have said so, but there is a difficult road ahead. The Labor Party is the party of reform, particularly in social and economic spheres. We are building the National Disability Insurance Scheme, but it is time for the big end of town, corporate Australia, the multinationals and the banks, to also get on board. This motion brings it to their attention because they need to consult broadly. I commend to the government to work on this, because people with disability and their carers and representatives are asking for this. I think this motion will bring to national attention this issue, important as it is.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion put forward by the member for Blair. I encourage him not to politicise this debate. It is all well and good to say that people on his side of parliament support a National Disability Insurance Scheme and support people with disabilities in employment opportunities. Certainly those wonderful measures are also supported by those on this side of the House and, dare I say, on the crossbenches too, because people with disabilities need all the support they can get. The chairman and life member of Kurrajong Waratah, a disability service organisation in Wagga Wagga, Michael Kennedy OAM, in his chairman's report delivered at the annual meeting on 17 October, said, 'It has been said that the measure of a civilised society is the way in which it looks after its most disadvantaged and vulnerable community members.' Certainly all of us in this parliament, in this place, should be well aware of that absolute necessity to look after those most vulnerable members of society.

All across Australians head to work every day. However, for some Australians their disability acts as a barrier to finding employment despite their desire to have a job. Disability Employment Australia states that of the one in five Australians of working age with a disability only 53 per cent participate in the workforce, compared with 81 per cent for people without a disability.

Disabilities are not always obvious and in many people you may not even be aware the person is disabled because the disability is not visible. The Australian Bureau of Statistics, Disability, Ageing and Carers Australia: Summary of Findings, found that 86 per cent of people with a disability experience limitations in core activities, including mobility and communication; almost 84 per cent have a physical condition, which can range from being confined to a wheelchair to having epilepsy or to suffering from AIDS; 11.3 per cent have mental and behavioural disorders; and, 4.8 per cent have intellectual and developmental disorders.

The most significant barriers to work for people with disabilities still appear to be stereotypical attitudes about what people with a disability can or cannot do. It is these attitudes which organisations across Australia are helping to break down, to assist disabled people into the workforce and, in the process, helping to increase productivity throughout Australia. Contrary to what may be believed, people with disabilities take fewer days off, take fewer sick leave days and tend to stay in jobs longer than other workers. Furthermore, people with disabilities also have fewer compensation incidents and accidents at work compared to other employees.

The Australian Network on Disability outlines the principles of employment as being the same for people with a disability as for those without disability, with the main focus on the skills, talents and capabilities the person with a disability can bring to the workplace. Many disabled people hold qualifications and do not require assistance in seeking employment. Businesses are employing people with disabilities because they are the best person for the job based on their skill set, not because they are disabled.

For people who require assistance to gain employment, Australia is abundant with organisations willing and able to assist them to find a job which suits their needs. Australian Disability Employment Services currently assists approximately 140,000 individuals with a disability to gain and maintain employment in the labour market. This assistance is offered at almost 2,000 sites across Australia, with 224 providers operating the Disability Employment Services program.

Kurrajong Waratah, an organisation based in Wagga Wagga but which has operations right throughout the Riverina, provides services to children and adults with disabilities and support for their parents and carers in the Riverina-Murray region. Within the organisation, Work Solutions, a specialist recruitment and training agency, assists people with disabilities who find gaining employment and transition into the workplace difficult. There is a competitive labour market in the Riverina-Murray region and Work Solutions has broken into the market and found employment for people who have a disability. Kurrajong Waratah currently supports 268 people with a disability who have found employment in the region. Of these people, 37 per cent are employed in process work, 30 per cent in retail and 15 per in hospitality.

In addition to finding people employment, Work Solutions also assists those with a disability to gain the skills required to enter the workforce through vocational training and by employing 151 people with disabilities in business areas operated by Kurrajong Waratah, which includes Waratah Industries, Kurrajong Small Business Services and Kurrajong Recyclers. These businesses all provide professional services in the Riverina and I know the recyclers, particularly the e-waste recyclers, do a fantastic job around the region and are always prompt at collecting the recycling from every house in Wagga Wagga and certainly from my electorate office in Wagga Wagga.

Work Solutions also assists school leavers with a disability through the New South Wales government's Post School programs, which helps students transition from a school environment to the workplace. In the Kurrajong Waratah 2011-12 annual report, Crispin Lowe, the manager of Work Solutions, noted the great demand for the post school employment program. Schools leavers from Wagga Wagga, Leeton, Narrandera, Griffith, Temora and Deniliquin all started work placements in the community during the year.

Also based in Wagga Wagga is The Leisure Company, a not-for-profit organisation which provides recreation, work and life skill opportunities for people with disabilities in Wagga Wagga and the surrounding centres.

One of the programs run by The Leisure Company is the Transition to Work Program for school leavers which aims to develop living, educational, prevocational and recreational skills. These are all skills which can be carried over into the workplace. This is a fantastic program allowing young adults with a disability to develop practical skills to help them gain employment.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers report published in November last year found people with a disability are half as likely to be employed as people without a disability. Where the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development average is 60 per cent, Australia ranks 21st out of 29 nations in the OECD. Whilst the National Disability Insurance Scheme would not be a magical fix for the problems in the system, it would assist in getting greater acceptance of disabled persons in the workplace. Rather poignantly, PricewaterhouseCoopers government sector leader Chris Bennett said:

It's clear the current system is broken big time. When you see Australia sitting last in OECD rankings on poverty for people with disabilities, it's just wrong. If we were sitting that low in the rankings in cricket or rugby Australians wouldn't countenance it.

The NDIS has the potential to support an additional 370,000 people with disabilities in the workforce by 2050. The coalition believes that the full implementation of an NDIS would be nothing short of a new deal for people with disabilities and their carers.

As the Productivity Commission recognised, this will require a high level of consultation and attention to detail which cannot be rushed into without risks to the scheme's subsequent success. We believe the commission's timetable is achievable with prudent government and good economic management. Launch sites are important, but the Labor government is yet to commit to the scheme over the long term. The only mention of the NDIS in the midyear economic and fiscal outlook is that it is a priority for the government over the medium term. The government must say whether it is committed to a full NDIS by the Productivity Commission's target date of 2018-19.

I am proud to say that I was the first federal parliamentarian in New South Wales to sign up to the NDIS: Every Australian Counts campaign. I stand by and support my comment that all Australians feel the need to have control of their own lives and it is incumbent upon the Commonwealth government to provide this freedom. I do not need any convincing this program needs my support. This comment extends to people with a disability who wish to have a job and contribute to the workforce, like every other Australian who wishes to have control over this aspect of their life. I commended the efforts taken so far by businesses which are employing people with disabilities and the work of advocates and organisations which assist people with a disability into the workforce on a daily basis.

Last Friday I attended a DisabiliTEA morning tea at Griffith which was arranged by Councillor Anne Napoli, whose son Patrick has a disability. She is a wonderful advocate for people with disabilities, certainly in the western Riverina. I look forward to continuing to work with Anne in the future to achieve better outcomes for people with disabilities in the region.

Finally, I will conclude with some remarks by Mr Kennedy of Kurrajong Waratah, who says:

It has been a remarkable achievement to reach this point from the release of the Productivity Commission's report and findings and recommendations for a NDIS in 2011.

…   …   …

Kurrajong Waratah's supportive and flexible relationships with people with a disability and their parent/carers will, under an NDIS, need to become stronger as they become not our 'clients' but our 'customers'.

He said that the NDIS is fully supported by Kurrajong Waratah and it looks forward to working with government into the future to make sure it is achievable for the benefit of people with a disability.

Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I speak in strong support of the honourable member for Blair's motion and commend him for bringing it to the House. I will associate myself with his contribution about, among other things, the NDIS and the Labor Party being the party of reform.

What I want to speak about in speaking in support of the motion is a particular program and project taking place in my seat of Page but more broadly across the North Coast area. That is the Disability Employment Broker program. It is a program designed to better help people with disabilities get jobs, help get them in the workforce and help maintain them in the workforce.

It is a program that can fund up to 10 Disability Employment Broker projects across Australia. It is a modest amount of money—$1 million in the 2012-13 budget—but with the potential to achieve significant outcomes. It has been introduced as part of Building Australia's Future Workforce package and that brings a lot of benefits with it. The Disability Employment Broker brings all aspects together—employee support, employer support, enhanced engagement with the employer—and looks at all industry sectors to see where it is easier to have people placed and where there is greater potential for ongoing employment, rather than short-term jobs.

I am pleased to say that TAFE New South Wales through its North Coast Institute was successful in its tender to undertake one of the brokering employment partnerships and training projects. That project commenced in September this year and will be completed in June next year. The project will cover the Northern Rivers and mid-North Coast areas and it will prioritise and target growing industries—retail, accommodation, food services, health and other industries that are experiencing skills shortages. They are industries that are quite significant and already established in the footprint where the project will take place. I was really pleased to see that the North Coast Institute of TAFE got the project, because I know that they have the specialised units, the skills and the commitment and they have set up a really nice style of management for this project. They are quite excited. I commend them for putting it forward. They will use a tripartite partnership model to broker the employment outcomes—which for the person wanting a job is a job. They will work with employer groups and Disability Employment Services, with TAFE as the architect and the lead of the project. They will engage with business networks, chambers of commerce, the Business Women's Networks and other industry in our area.

Part of the project will be about employment sustainability training. They are able to deliver that and work with employers on that. Another part of the project is working with employers to enhance their ability to manage people with disabilities in the workplace. Some of the job candidates will be provided with pre-vocational skills training and that will be designed and supported in partnership between North Coast Institute of TAFE and the providers and employers. It will help to create employment pathways, because sometimes it is really difficult to find which way to go. I am pleased to say that there is a project team, and the local employment coordinator from Building Australia's Future Workforce, who is from the North Coast, is on that with a range of other people with particular skills and expertise. It is a really good project for a small amount of money—about $130,000—and it will help about 20 people and it will help them long term.

Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion put forward by the member for Blair, Mr Neumann. This is an issue that I take particular interest in and I thank the member for raising a matter of such importance. In my electorate I regularly meet with a group of parents and caregivers of people with a disability so that I can better understand the challenges that having a disability or having a loved one with a disability can present. These meetings give members of the community a chance to discuss what daily life involves for their family and how their circumstances could be improved. Many things have been achieved through this group, and one issue that has been brought to my attention is how much red tape people with a permanent disability have to go through to reprove that they have a disability year after year. The process is time-consuming, disruptive and frustrating.

One of my aspirations as a member of parliament is to see government departments imposing less red tape when dealing with people with a disability.

I now have a greater understanding of the need for reform in this area through my experiences with the group of parents and caregivers. I would like to join the member for Blair in commending disability advocates and businesses employing people with a disability. In my electorate of Hasluck, I am fortunate enough to represent many members of the community who are part of such organisations. I am particularly proud to have a member of Disability Advocacy Network Australia in my electorate, and Midland Information, Debt and Legal Advocacy Service Inc., also affectionately known as MIDLAS, in the community.

I would like to congratulate Maria and the team at Friendship Cafe in my electorate on the work they do for the community of Hasluck, where they provide employment pathways and training to young adults with disabilities. The cafe is an excellent example of including and empowering people with a disability, and I hope to see many more initiatives like this in the future. I was honoured to be at the opening of the Friendship Cafe, and I would like to thank the staff for the excellent work that they do.

There are many other wonderful community organisations in Hasluck that I deal with regularly, including the Hills Community Support Group and the Foothills Information and Referral Service. Of course, more work needs to be done. In the 2009 Bureau of Statistics' Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, 78.6 per cent of people without a disability aged 15 to 64 were employed, compared to just 50 per cent of people with a disability.

The group of parents and caregivers that I meet with are always very honest in communicating with me about the challenges they face, and I always appreciate their input. I remember hearing at one particular meeting how parents of school-leaving-age children with a disability were worried about whether or not their children would be able to go on to higher learning. Members of the group were also worried about whether or not their children would be able to find employment and fit in at a workplace.

I believe it is important for us as members of parliament to look at more effective approaches to creating pathways for people with a disability from school to higher education to employment. It is also important that we encourage the general public to give opportunities to people with a disability and to engage them in the workplace. I want to congratulate all businesses that are currently employing people with a disability. Having a job creates not only financial benefits for people with a disability but also a sense of independence, purpose and pride. I encourage more businesses to offer this sense of reward, along with the many benefits of employment, to people with disabilities in our community. In particular, I would like to see a reality check done on the businesses who have the capacity to provide such employment pathways. A particular young lady at a forum addressed the issue of her concern and then burst into tears because she had been applying for a job in a secretarial role but had not been successful. Even though there are job related services to support people with disabilities, she was unsuccessful. At the moment I am working with a couple of companies, hoping to find her a permanent job. The heartache of her circumstances is that her mother is dying of cancer and she has no father to care for her once her mother dies. So she is extremely worried about her own future.

There are many others who would be in similar circumstances, and I would hope that, within the industry and business sectors, there is compassionate consideration of giving people with disability real jobs that provide them with a pathway that is both rich and meaningful, and will enable them to enjoy a fulfilling life. I support the sentiments of the member for Blair and his motion.

Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the member for Blair's motion. It is a timely motion and, in fact, one that is well overdue. I have met with representatives from various organisations, both legal services and advocacy organisations, advocating for the particular position and needs of people with disabilities who are seeking employment.

I must admit that I was shocked to learn of the very low proportion of people with disabilities currently in full-time and meaningful employment, but I was more shocked to learn that there were not any strong national strategies in place to change this.

One of the things that could have been done as a minimum for some time, and this motion does allude to it, is starting to set targets, or at least reporting targets, within public services and elsewhere for the employment of people with disabilities. Much is made by both the current government and previous governments when it comes to attacking welfare payments about the need to move people into meaningful employment, but one can only have the stick approach if one is serious about strategies for finding employment for people with disabilities. To date that has not really been the case. So requirements to report would be a very good start.

I might suggest, too, that it is not just this category of employee, this category of people, who are going underrepresented in our work force and for which there should be reporting targets certainly in the public service. There is also another group of people who are highly represented in my electorate—people who have come here from refugee and migrant backgrounds. They maybe first generation having arrived here only a couple of years ago, or they may have arrived some time before that, potentially even generations ago. One of the things we are finding is that the unemployment and underemployment statistics amongst this group are particularly high as well. We are finding for example that if you have come here from a non-English speaking country and you have a tertiary degree or higher skills and qualifications, you are more than twice as likely to find yourself in a low-paid job compared with someone who has come here from an English speaking background. So underemployment is an issue, as is unemployment.

I would hope that if the government is serious about tackling the issue of underrepresentation in our work force we can go beyond this issue and take this perhaps as a template to look at other groups that are currently going unrepresented or underrepresented. But, more importantly, we are going to need more than reporting targets for people with disabilities. It is probably time for the government to consider binding employment targets within the public service and also to look at the government's procurement policy, because there is much more that can be done and it is far too often the case that when it comes to budget time the government is ready and willing to wield the axe and to rewrite the disability support pension impairment tables, for example, and to look at things that can be done to save money, yet there is not a corresponding national strategy for employment of people with disabilities. That is something that needs to change. We also need a national strategy for the employment of people who are underrepresented coming here from CALD communities and from other backgrounds as well.

I do commend the member for Blair for moving his motion, but there is much more that the government could be doing if it was serious about this issue, and it is time to take public service employment strategies and procurement policies much more seriously.

Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.