Ask what we want

In this submission, People with Disability Australia urges the Australian government not to press ahead with a rushed and inadequate review of Disability Employment Services. The reasons for the low rate of people with disability in the labour force and in employment are complex, and cannot be addressed by reviewing DES in isolation.

A new approach to supporting people with disability into fairly paid work is desperately overdue. Continued segregation, tweaks to existing practices and retaining failed provider models will do little to improve disabled people's work prospects. Another missed opportunity is as good as a decision to throw billions away without benefit to people with disability.

People with Disability Australia believes it is unacceptable to implement new policies that have not undergone proper scrutiny, or to pre-empt consultation by planning to adopt recommendations and new policies before people with disability and our advocates have given their support. To uphold its commitments to people with disability, they argue that the Australian government must:

1. extends the current Disability Employment Services model by one year and work with disability representative organisations to design a comprehensive review
2. removes all penalties for failing to meet mutual obligation requirements to protect people from losing their poverty payment and experiencing an increased risk of homelessness
3. directly invites people with disability who are in DES and Jobactive to play a central role in the design of a new model through an open call for expressions of interest. Participants should not be selected or recommended by providers.