Priority 1 – Financial assistance for people with a disability looking for work or trying to keep a job
Since July 2006 around 30,000 people with disability have been required to look for work but have received less income (currently $107 less per fortnight). It costs more to look for and stay in a job when you have a disability. Assisting people with a disability with the extra costs of looking for and staying in work is an investment that can boost national productivity and help our skills shortage.
We call on an incoming Federal Government to:
• Provide financial assistance to people with a disability who are looking for work or are in work.
Priority 2 – A National Disability Employment Strategy
Employment remains an area of substantial discrimination against people with a disability. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission data shows that 44% of complaints made under the Disability Discrimination Act relate to discrimination in employment. Employment retention is a particular challenge. In 2005, the Australian Public Service Commission found that employees with a disability were 60% more likely than other staff to be retrenched. These key issues of discriminatory employer attitudes and employment retention have to date remained largely unaddressed.
We call on an incoming Federal Government to develop a coordinated National Disability Employment Strategy that:
• Establishes a framework for coordinated initiatives, involving stakeholders at the national, state and local levels;
• Develops policies to help make work pay for people with a disability, taking into account state services, concessions and the non-optional costs of a disability;
• Promotes the development of supports for people during times of transition;
• Addresses employer attitudes; and
• Prioritises improving the retention and recruitment of people with a disability in the public sector.
Priority 3 – An Access to Premises Standard
People with a disability will be excluded from the community for as long as they are excluded from public buildings. Almost 1 million Australians have an impairment that affects their mobility. Inaccessible buildings also affect those who are aged, care for small children or have temporary impairments.
We call on an incoming Federal Government to:
• Introduce an Access to Premises Standard that meets the needs of people with a disability by 2008.
