Canberra, Australia
— The Federal Government yesterday assured the
670,000 Australians receiving disability support pensions
that they would not be forced to sign up to the Job
Network under a plan to find them jobs and reduce the
welfare bill.
Employment Minister Kevin Andrews
said as many as 150,000 of Australia's disability
pensioners could join the workforce if a trial program
proved successful and was expanded.
Under a six-month, $840,000 trial,
12 Job Network providers will be offered cash to run
advertising campaigns and to employ staff to contact
disability pension recipients to find out if they want to
join training programs and job schemes. Providers will
receive a fee of up to $6000 if they find a disabled
person work. Placement fees for ordinary first-time job
seekers rise to $90.
"We all know that having a job
brings a sense of dignity to people and a sense of
self-worth," Mr Andrews said. "There is no proposal by
the Government whatsoever to make this a mandatory
scheme."
He denied the plan was more about
saving the Government hundreds of millions of dollars a
year in welfare payments than finding disabled people
work.
But Deputy Prime Minister John
Anderson and Health Minister Tony Abbott both yesterday
agreed the scheme had the potential to save taxpayers
large sums.
Mr Abbott said the Government was
keen to rein in the cost of disability pensions. "I
certainly have concerns about the growth of the
disability support pension," he said.
Randall Markey, a spokesman for the
Minister for Family and Community Services Kay Patterson,
said the disability support pension cost the Government
$7.6 billion a year.
Opposition
Leader Mark Latham warned that the Government's
proposals would create more unemployment unless the
people who were moved off the disability pension and
into the workforce received proper training.
"Unless you're
willing to invest in disabled people and give them the
training and rehabilitation and support they're going
to find it very, very hard to find a job," he
said.
He said it was sad that the
Government appeared to view disabled pensioners as an
opportunity to save money.
The Australian Council of Social
Service said the employment plan was a welcome
development as long as people on disability support
pensions were not made to feel their livelihoods were at
risk.
The Department of Employment and
Workplace Relations has been working with industry to
identify areas most likely to contain suitable jobs for
disabled people, with retail and hospitality seeming to
provide most opportunities.
