Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Bragg for his first question despite the interjections, and also acknowledge the presence in the gallery of his parents, who must be tremendously proud. Thank you very much for this extremely important question. One of the things that a strong economy does for Australia and for all Australians is it provides job opportunities, and none could be more important than providing job opportunities for people with disability, because this government, the Morrison government, believes in encouraging people. We believe in encouraging aspiration, providing opportunity and rewarding effort. We want people who live with disability to have a choice and some control around their life so they can achieve their goals.

One of the things that the Morrison government has announced is an investment of $3 billion into the Disability Employment Services Program. Through this program, we particularly want to target workplace initiatives such as workplace modifications and adjustments, so people with disability can find it easier to work in their workplace, and support wage system assessments, wage subsidy schemes and a national disability recruitment coordinator.

Just last year, the Morrison government changed the disability employment service program to help more people with disability find a job. I'm pleased to say that 234,000 people use the Disability Employment Services program. And through this program, we are seeing improvements in the results for people with disability achieving the outcomes that they want for themselves. We have seen participation rates increase by 21 per cent, 41,000 people are accessing the support that they need and 15,000 people have not only been assisted in finding work but also in remaining in that work. On this side of the chamber, we believe it is our responsibility to do everything we can to get all Australians back into work and that includes helping Australians who are working with disability and living with disability to get a job as well.