Designing the Future: Promoting Australia’s economy and labour market through disability inclusion
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Australia is at a critical moment in time. Rising inflation, soaring interest rates, wage inequality and a forecasted debt of $1 trillion by 2023 have left many individuals and businesses feeling the strain when it comes to economic security and job prosperity. Enter: the Jobs and Skills Summit.
Held between 1 and 2 September 2022, the Summit brought together unions, employers, community stakeholders and governments to work constructively on the challenges and opportunities facing the Australian labour market and economy. Attended by individuals and organisations representing a variety of interests and sectors, including disability, youth, Indigenous, single mothers and charities, the Summit aimed to capture a diverse cross-section of Australian voices.
The Albanese Government has since outlined its commitments, which include building “a bigger, better trained and more productive workforce, boost[ing] real wages and living standards, and creat[ing] more opportunities for more Australians,” as well as working toward “reducing barriers to employment so that all Australians have the opportunity to participate to their full potential.” Thirty-six initiatives will be implemented immediately. Those include:
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- An additional $1 billion in joint Federal-State funding for fee-free TAFE in 2023 and accelerated delivery of 465,000 fee-free TAFE places
- A one-off income credit so that Age Pensioners who want to work can earn an additional $4,000 over this financial year without losing any of their pension
- More flexibly utilising $575 million in the National Housing Infrastructure Facility to invest in social and affordable housing, and attract financing from superannuation funds and other sources of private capital
- Modernising Australia’s workplace relations laws, including to make bargaining accessible for all workers and businesses
- Amending the Fair Work Act to strengthen access to flexible working arrangements, make unpaid parental leave more flexible and strengthen protection for workers against discrimination and harassment
- Improving access to jobs and training pathways for women, First Nations people, regional Australians and culturally and linguistically diverse people, including equity targets for training places, 1,000 digital apprenticeships in the Australian Public Service, and other measures to reduce barriers to employment
- An increase in the permanent Migration Program ceiling to 195,000 in 2022-23 to help ease widespread, critical workforce shortages
- Extending visas and relaxing work restrictions on international students to strengthen the pipeline of skilled labour, and providing additional funding to resolve the visa backlog
How will the government’s objective to “give everyone a seat at the table” actually translate into real world action and improvement when it comes to the disability sector?
In his rousing speech, Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott urged employers to not only hire more people with disabilities, but to focus on those employees’ long-term goals and career progression. “There are nearly 4.5 million people in this country who have some form of physical or non-physical disability, visible or invisible, and only 54 percent of them are involved in the workforce,” Alcott said. “They want a career. They want a leadership position.”
Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Ben Gauntlett, echoed the sentiment, adding that “The participation rate for people with disability includes people legally employed at or around $3 per hour.”
The message was seemingly not lost on the government, which has since committed to providing up to $3.3 million in funding to develop a Disability Employment Initiative pilot aimed at increasing employment and improving career pathways for people with disabilities.
However, Disability Representation Organisations and advocacy groups consider that this is not going far enough in removing barriers and guaranteeing job, financial, medical and housing security and support to the disability workforce. Since the Summit, the Disability Support Pension (DSP) has been a particular sore point, with calls to amend the scheme so that it adequately supports recipient workers.
Currently, the income rules under the DSP mean that 40 cents is deducted for every dollar a recipient earns over $190 per fortnight. According to Mary Mallett, CEO of Disability Advocacy Network Australia, “This is acting as a disincentive for people with disability to take on more work.”
Calls have been made to raise the threshold, which would not only support recipients in entering and participating more fully in the workforce, but would provide cost of living support and address worker shortages. Carolyn Hodge, Deputy CEO of People with Disability Australia, says that “Increases to the DSP’s income-free threshold has dual benefits, it supports people with the additional costs of disability in a time of rising living costs and it can boost workforce numbers in a time of skill shortages.”
In his address, Dr Gauntlett also noted the need to review the DSP, stating that “a close analysis of the interrelationship of employment and training and other policy frameworks is needed – with an emphasis on data and local solutions. The entitlement to government support to live, for healthcare and housing is often compromised by an effort to pursue employment.”
Dr Gauntlett outlined four other key points that would increase workforce participation, stating Australia needs:
- a Workplace Disability Equality Agency to research, assess and promote how we recruit, retain and advance people with disability into long-term careers and economic participation.
- whole of community engagement on disability inclusion. Under 20 percent of the top 50 ASX listed companies have a disability action plan under the Disability Discrimination Act. This needs to change.
- law reform. 50 percent of all complaints made to the Australian Human Rights Commission concern disability discrimination, many of which are in employment. A better regulatory framework is needed, one which leads to systemic change and prevents exploitation.
- to embed people with disabilities in new industries and new projects through training and work opportunities. Disability is diverse and people with disability are diverse too, however much like housing it is best to build in universal design considerations up front.
Promoting Australia’s economy and labour market through disability inclusion
It is without doubt that the inclusion and encouragement of people with disability benefits Australia’s economy and labour market. It is therefore imperative that we design comprehensive policy, regulatory frameworks and recruitment programs that offer opportunities to engage meaningfully within the workforce.
According to the Department of Communities Disability Services:
- Reliable – People with disability take fewer days off, take less sick leave and stay in jobs longer than other workers.
- Productive – Once in the right job, people with disability perform as well as other employees.
- Affordable – Recruitment costs are lower.
- Safe – Studies have found that workers with disability are no more likely to be injured at work than other employees.
- Good for business – People with disability build strong connections with customers. They boost staff morale and loyalty by helping to create a diverse workforce. Teamwork is enhanced. Real cost savings are realised through less turnover, recruitment and retraining costs. Hiring people with disability adds to the organisation’s overall diversity. It builds the company’s image among its staff, community and customers.
Or as Alcott says, “It’s just bloody good business.”
It is expected that the government will deliver its full employment White Paper on Employment in the coming months. Until its release, we can only postulate how the government will react to the ideas raised at the Summit and what changes it will implement.
