Disability Employment Services Review Submission

People with Disability Australia (PWDA) and the Antipoverty Centre responded to an Australian Government invitation to share our views on a potential New Disability Employment Support Model (NDESM) put forward by the Federal Government.

We took a look at the model the government showed us and made some recommendations for change. Our biggest feedback was to take a step back and spend more time on putting together a better model to replace Centrelink’s Disability Employment Services program.

People with disability need meaningful help into jobs from employment service providers they can sign up with. None of us should be forced to deal with any provider. Any new DES model, like NDESM, must be optional and available to all people with disability.

PWDA doesn’t support conditional social security payments, like DES, jobactive or the ParentsNext, or mutual obligation requirements for people with disability.

DES’ failures mustn’t be repeated in NDESM, or a similar model. Any new program should respond to our real needs by valuing the feedback and experiences of those of us who’ve used employment services in the past.

Let’s #EndSegregation and embrace a desegregated employment services model that features specialist providers and factors in people’s specific disabilities. Let’s adopt a system that gives us full choice and control over who we choose as our employment services provider, if we want one at all.

Read our position statement here.

Read PWDA and the Anti-Poverty Centre’s full submission below: