Parliamentary question without notice|Disability Employment
24/09/2014
The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I seek leave to make an explanation prior to directing a question to the leader on the subject of honesty, openness and transparency in answering questions in parliament.
Leave granted.
The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I refer the minister to the State Strategic Plan Target T50 which is to increase by 10 per cent the number of people with a disability employed in South Australia by 2020. The detail of that particular target outlines a baseline of 2009 and outlines the government’s target through to the period of 2020. In confidential briefing notes provided to the minister for answering questions in parliament on this particular issue and on other issues, I note that the minister has advised that for certain questions, including questions on this particular issue:
Notes for the minister’s information only or any confidential information need to be on a separate page to the rest of the briefing. The information needs to be clearly marked confidential and highlighted. This ensures it will not be read out in parliament. Example below.
Clearly the minister’s officers are concerned that, unless it is clearly labelled and advised on a separate page, she might mistakenly read out confidential information onto the record in parliament. This is information that needs to be kept secret.
The briefing notes to the minister in relation to answering questions on the number of people with disability employed in South Australia include the normal political spin and guff, which I won’t go through, but in the section on confidential information, that is, the minister is not to read this out in the parliament because this is too confidential for us to know, the minister is advised that:
State Strategic Plan Target T50 to increase the number of people with disability employed in South Australia by 2020 appears to be difficult to reach.
My questions to the minister are:
1.Why is the minister adopting a policy of concealing the truth on government promises in relation to this particular area?
2.Will the minister now outline all the advice that she has received on this particular strategic plan target and on whether the government will keep its promise of increasing by 10 per cent the number of people with a disability employed in South Australia by the year 2020?
The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) ( 15:03 ): I thank the member for his question and, indeed, this government is an open and honest and transparent government and we very much stand by that and we have a very good track record to support that. In relation to people with disability, we have set ourselves a strategic plan target to increase involvement by 10 per cent the number of people aged between 15 and 64 with a disability to be employed in South Australia by 2020.
That has been very difficult to remain on track with and it would appear that at the current rate we are unlikely to achieve it. Nevertheless, like all of our targets, we have the courage and transparency to at least set ourselves a target for which we are then publicly accountable—unlike the former Liberal government who never set themselves targets like we have, never stood accountable, never reported and were not transparent.
We have set ourselves these targets and, indeed, in relation to disability, it is a very challenging area. As to our progress to date, it would appear that we are unlikely to achieve it. However, that does not stop us from focusing energies and efforts to try to improve our performance in that space. As I indicated in my previous answer, in terms of issues around diversity, including people with disabilities is an important aspect of that. I think all of our organisations and institutions would be better places if we had improved diversity.
In relation to our efforts around disability, in particular Skills for All, reforms to the state’s training system include learner support services for the most disadvantaged learners and some of those who are most disenfranchised, and that includes people with disabilities. These services include things like practical support services for learners with disability to help complete their qualifications and then to work with disability employment service providers to help provide pathways to help improve workplace participation.
I am advised that about one-third of students receiving these learner support services had a disability. Also, the South Australian government aims to try to be an exemplary employer for people with disabilities, and an innovative engagement support and employment model will be trialled in several public sector agencies. The positions in the public sector trainee pool will be made—
The Hon. R.I. Lucas interjecting:
The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —exempt for people with intellectual—
The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Lucas, you can ask your own question if you wish, but most of us want to hear the answer from the minister.
The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Also, South Australia’s participation in equity programs helped to assist in engaging those with disability and those who have many challenges in being able to access paid workforce participation. There are a number of programs we have in place and activities that we are conducting to assist in improving those numbers. As I said, we remain very committed to being able to achieve our target of 10 per cent by 2020.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: I have a supplementary question. Given that the government has failed to meet its target at this time, when does it plan to meet it next? Can the minister elaborate on the reasons as to why the government failed to meet this target? Why has public sector employment of people with disabilities not only failed to meet its target but has actually gone backwards in recent times?
The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers): I thank the honourable member for her question. I stress that the target is set for 2020 so we have not failed to achieve the target but, as I indicated, if we are tracking on the current rates of engagement then we are unlikely to achieve it. However, as I have said, we have initiated a number of programs that we have put in place that will improve our performance in this area and we remain committed to achieving that target.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: I have a supplementary question. Can the minister clarify how close the government is to achieving that target?
The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers): I think that the honourable member gave the figures just then. I am sorry that I don’t have the exact figures, but I am happy to find the last report. I have indicated quite openly that we are not tracking well at this point in time. I am happy to bring the last figures back to this place. I have indicated quite openly that we are not tracking well. However, we have put a number of programs in place to help improve our performance and, as I have said, we remain committed to achieving our 10 per cent target.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: I have a further supplementary question. What organisations or individuals is the government working with to put in place strategies to help achieve that target?
The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers): I have just given a response that outlines a special project that we have put in place in the Public Service to help improve uptake. I have already outlined the projects to which this government has committed to or is currently undertaking.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: Further to my supplementary, I may have misheard, but my parliamentary colleagues seem to agree with me that the minister did say that the government is running a special project but didn’t actually outline exactly who was involved.
The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers): Public servants. It is within the public sector, and it is a pilot that is currently being undertaken.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: I have a further supplementary question. Is it the case that the strategy does not currently involve specific disability organisations, such as People with Disability Australia or specialist disability employment services?
The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers):I am not sure, but I am happy to check that out and bring back that information.
