Good morning. It’s great to be with you all today and thank you for showing me around this incredible workplace.
I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we meet, the Kaurna peoples, and pay my respects to elders past and present.
I extend that acknowledgement to all First Nations people here today.
I would also like to acknowledge today:
- Myron Mann, Bedford CEO
- Janet Miller, Bedford Board Chair
- Erin McCarthy, Bedford Deputy Board Chair, and
- the executive, staff and employees at Bedford.
The Albanese Labor Government is deeply committed to creating a more inclusive society where all Australians with disability have the chance to fully participate and thrive in all aspects of community life – and this includes employment.
Australians with disability can and want to work.
They bring talent, curiosity, and fresh perspectives to our workplaces.
But we also know that people with disability with high support needs face many barriers to finding and keeping employment.
My focus as Minister for Social Services and the NDIS is to break down these barriers and create real opportunities – because when we provide the right support, everyone benefits.
Organisations like Bedford have a huge role in opening up the world of work to people with disability.
By transforming business models and providing opportunities for employees to upskill, try different types of work, get promoted or move into open employment - outcomes for people with disability can be improved.
And that’s why evolving the supported employment sector is so important.
We need to move away from static models of service delivery – to approaches that are inclusive, collaborative, and evolve to provide more opportunities and pathways to open employment for people with disability.
We need organisations that make sure people with high support needs are empowered to forge their own paths in life.
I see that in action here today at Cultivate, backed by Bedford, which is providing jobs and pathways for people with barriers to employment, including disability.
We need more of these integrated workplaces in Australia.
And that’s what our Albanese Labor Government’s Structural Adjustment Fund is all about. It is about directly improving employment options available to people with disability with high support needs and helping supported employment providers to adjust their services so they are better at what they do.
Better at:
- boosting training and skills for people with disability
- creating and expanding pathways to open employment
- creating new sustainable employment opportunities
- building skills and training and coaching
- tailoring plans to meet employees’ goals and aspirations, and
- connecting with the community.
Last year, I announced 30 supported employment organisations would benefit from a $14.5 million investment under round one of the Fund.
Today, I am very proud to announce the second round of grants. Another 33 organisations will share an additional $14.6 million in funding.
Over in Lismore in NSW, we’re funding an accessible café that will be a training hub for people with disability.
In the Kimberley region of WA, we are funding a social enterprise that creates sustainable employment and training in horticulture and farming for people with high support needs.
And here in South Australia, we’re proud to provide Bedford with funding to deliver their Bedford Rangers program.
They will build on a trial they delivered with RM Williams to host employment in mainstream workplaces, with an employment coach to create individualised pathways to open employment for supported employees.
This is a really wonderful program – delivering real results.
And Bedford are also receiving funding for the Pathways Hub – which will offer discovery and customised employment, vocational assessment, career navigation and transition support for supported employees wanting to take on different employment opportunities.
This project will feed into resources that will be made available through our new Centre for Inclusive Employment.
The Centre, previously known as the Disability Employment Centre of Excellence, will be an evidence-informed, best-practice hub that provides resources, tools, and training to help providers deliver quality employment services for people with disability.
Thank you to all of Bedford’s leadership and staff for your innovation and commitment to Australians with disability.
There’s about 16,000 Australians with disability who currently participate in supported employment; supported by organisations like Bedford.
And our targeted funding is about helping this sector thrive – so that Australians with disability thrive and participate fully in our communities.
Round 2 of the Structural Adjustment Funding is really exciting and will complement our Government’s new specialist disability employment program – Inclusive Employment Australia.
Inclusive Employment Australia will start later this year and has been designed to shift relationships between providers and participants from administrative and compliance based to one that is built on mutual respect and trust.
The new program recognises that people with disability may be at different stages of their employment journey – and that a one size fits all approach doesn’t work.
It rightly puts the needs of people with disability at the centre of disability employment services and employers as key partners.
Our Government believes that if a person with disability needs help to find employment – support should be available.
And that’s why we will also expand eligibility to volunteers and people with disability with a work capacity of less than 8 hours per week.
And this change to eligibility will help to create more pathways from supported to open employment – and complement the important work of projects under this Fund.
Like you – my focus is on boosting disability employment and opening more opportunities for people with disability who can and want to work.
And only by working with the disability community, and providers like Bedford, will we ensure that people with disability have opportunities to work like other Australians.