Australian Federation of Disability Organisations

A Report from Campaign Enable

People with disability had an historic opportunity to influence the outcome of the 2007 election by lobbying for parties to adopt policies that would have a positive effect on people living with disability. As part of the Australia Fair initiative, AFDO supported Campaign Enable, which focused on 16 key seats where the numbers of people living on the Disability Support Pension (DSP) were predicted to have an effect on the result of the election.

Our predictions appear to have been accurate. The seats Campaign Enable focused on are the seats that have now shaped the landscape of the Federal government. Of the 16 seats that were targeted, 14 changed hands, one was retained by the sitting Liberal member and one was retained by the sitting Labor member (see overleaf).

Of course one of the key seat changes was John Howard’s own electorate of Bennelong with Labor parliamentarian Maxine McKew now the sitting member. This was the seat where Campaign Enable was launched on 10 October this year.

So what can we, as people with disability, deduce about the change of government and our support of Campaign Enable? Well, we can say that the evidence certainly indicates that the seats chosen were crucial to the outcome of the election. Forums were held in these seats, letters were written to the major party candidates in each of the seats, and a strong media campaign with extensive exposure focusing on DSP voter numbers was achieved.

In practical policy terms, the campaign achieved several important wins. Both the Coalition and the ALP promised extra financial help to people in receipt of the Disability Support Pension and the ALP committed to the introduction of a National Disability Employment Strategy. The Greens supported all of the Campaign Enable aims:
- the introduction of an Access to Premises Standard by 2008
- the introduction of a National Disability Employment Strategy &
- more financial assistance to help people with disability find and keep work.
The new Labor Government has released a number of policy initiatives that will have an impact of our lives. A summary of the ALP policy announcements that relate to people living with disability is at the end of this newsletter.

Campaign Enable Targeted Seats
Click here to view the outcome of the targeted seats.