A new national plan to improve conditions for people with disability working in supported employment acknowledges their human rights but fails to substantively address the issue of subminimum wages, with advocates labelling the omission “disappointing”.
The combined commonwealth, state and territory plan for supported employment, to be released by the federal social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, on Thursday, proposes action to provide people with disability “informed choice and control about their employment” and a “genuine opportunities to work in a wide range of settings”.
On Wednesday, Guardian Australia revealed that people with disability working in supported employment, or Australian disability enterprises (ADEs), are being legally paid 9.5% superannuation while the rest of the workforce receives 11%, due to outdated and contradictory workplace laws.
The lower rate of superannuation is on top of laws that already allow ADEs to pay their staff vastly below the minimum wage, calculated based on an assessment of their productivity, or by reference to what is called the special national minimum wage. That can be as low as $2.90 an hour. The national minimum wage is $23.23 an hour.
The new supported employment plan lists as one of its guiding principles that people with disability “have the right to equal remuneration and associated conditions for work of equal value”. It reflects the United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, which stipulates “just and favourable conditions of work, including equal opportunities and equal remuneration for work of equal value”.
This principle is often interpreted by companies as compatible with subminimum wages on the basis that “work of equal value” may take a person with disability longer to perform.
The new national plan includes $41m over three years for a fund to which ADEs can apply for grants to “evolve their business models to better meet community expectations and create sustainable employment opportunities”. One of the key performance indicators of the fund is higher wages for employees with disability.
The plan does not outline a specific strategy for phasing employees with disability off subminimum wages or address the existing superannuation disparity.
Catherine McAlpine, the chief executive of Inclusion Australia, said while Rishworth was to be commended for “not putting [supported employment] in the too-hard basket” and getting a plan together that acknowledges human rights for people with disability, the substance of the plan itself was “underwhelming”.
“It’s disappointing that the government hasn’t made a clear declaration about genuinely increasing the wages of people with an intellectual disability,” McAlpine said. “I would encourage the government to be clear in acknowledging that the very low wages for people with an intellectual disability is a breach of their human rights and commit to finding a solution.
“I would be disappointed if the government didn’t take immediate action to ensure that people with intellectual disability or people that work in ADEs received the same level of superannuation as the rest of the community.”
While the plan is explicitly intended for people in supported employment, many of the initiatives are not targeted directly to people with intellectual disabilities – the largest cohort working under those conditions – and who need solutions tailored for their specific needs, McAlpine said.
“There is a huge diversity in disability and what happens all too often is the people with the highest support needs miss out. This is the plan for those people, and yet, if you look at some of the initiatives, they’re still missing out.”
Rishworth and the workplace relations minister, Tony Burke, declined to comment on subminimum wages or the superannuation disparity.
On launching the plan, Rishworth said making Australia a more disability-inclusive country was “a key priority for our government”.
“It’s been clear for a long time that there is a need to evolve this sector and make sure people with disability have access to a range of high-quality employment options,” Rishworth said.
“The plan will help everyone with high support needs to exercise genuine choice and control over their job and career. That means not just finding employment but meaningful and fulfilling roles that help them reach their career goals.”
