Anglicare Australia says the Government’s changes to disability employment contracts should lead to more scrutiny on the rest of the system.

A network of organisations linked to Anglican Church, Anglicare Australia is one of Australia’s largest charitable networks, working in every community across the country.

“Anyone who wants help to look for work should be able to get it. The quality of that support should be guaranteed, and the system should be about supporting people,” said Anglicare Australia Executive Director Kasy Chambers.

Chambers also believes that the system often hurts people without providing solutions that help. Anglicare Australia’s research shows that the system is stopping them from finding work, harming people, and driving some to despair.

“Workforce Australia is plagued by many of the same issues as the disability employment sector. It is likely
that some of the providers who are having their disability employment contracts cancelled still have contracts under Workforce Australia.”

This shake-up of disability employment introduces welcome scrutiny to the system, and we hope the Government will extend that scrutiny to the Workforce Australia system it inherited from its predecessors.

“Our hope is that the new Government will work with the people at the centre of the system to deliver real reforms. It should listen to their experiences when making decisions about funding and contracts. And it should build a system that aims to help people, not punish them,”

She also believes that it’s a good sign that the new government is willing to look at the contracts and hopes that soon they will look at the system as a whole in a similar perspective.