2021-12-02
Media release
Disabled person and spokesperson for Disability Rights and Services Senator Jordon Steele-John has announced the Australian Greens have released a plan to end discrimination experienced by disabled people in education and employment.
Australian Greens Spokesperson for Disability Rights and Services Senator Steele-John said:
“The week of International Day of People with Disabilities The Australian Greens have announced a plan to make our education system accessible to everyone, and break down the barriers disabled people are experiencing in employment.
“We must end the segregation experienced by disabled people. To do this, we must reimagine and improve our workplaces and educational institutions.
“Our National Jobs Plan will champion inclusive employment by setting a 20% quota for disabled employees in the Australian Public Service by 2030. We will set milestone targets, performance indicators, and timeframes for increasing the workforce participation and retention for disabled people across all sectors.
“It will also end segregated employment, including the closure of Australian Disability Enterprises, and make transitional arrangements for workers.
“To increase access to education for disabled people, we will lead the transition to a fully inclusive education system by investing an initial $10 million over four years to co-design a National Inclusive Education Transition Plan with disabled people, families, disability representative organisations, education experts, teachers, and their unions. The Greens are committed to building inclusive education into tertiary qualifications and giving all pre-service and in-service teachers and principals the opportunity to train, retrain and regularly upskill in inclusive education practices by investing $400 million over four years.
“Additionally, our creation of an Accessible Infrastructure Fund, a commitment of $3 Billion, could assist with making places of learning more physically accessible.
“Working together, The Greens and the disability community have achieved many things. We’ve stopped the Morrison Government’s attempts at implementing Independent Assessment, successfully negotiated stronger confidentiality protections for people sharing their experiences with the Disability Royal Commission, and obtained justice for Thalidomide survivors.
“The next election will be closer than people think. Scott Morrison is only 828 votes away from losing majority government and on current polling, a power-sharing Parliament is the most likely outcome.
“In the balance of power, the Greens will kick the Liberals out and push the next government to make billionaires and corporations pay their fair share of tax so all people are supported to live a good life.”