Page 4371 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 22 September 2010
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health and wellbeing, I was disappointed in the lack of detail and attention given to these areas. For people with episodic disability, workplaces must engage in strategies that assist a person in maintaining ongoing employment. It must remove those barriers that prevent a person from best managing their symptoms when a period of significant illness occurs.
While similar strategies should be used for disabilities that are constant or episodic, such as disability awareness training for staff and development of peer networks, those with episodic illness probably need greater access to flexible work hours so that they can work when they are well, and take time out when they are unwell.
One specific example of chronic illness is multiple sclerosis. Longitudinal studies conducted at ANU show that nearly two in three Australians with MS are not in the paid workforce, and most of them left the workforce because of fatigue. Having met representatives from MS ACT, I was informed of the importance of carer rooms, because if a person suffering fatigue is able to take a break in the middle of the day, they will be much better able to cope in the workplace and thus sustain their employment. It is about enabling a person to best manage their symptoms.
The Victorian government is ahead of us in assisting its workforce to manage chronic illness. The Victorian public service has what is called an employer advice service which aims to assist employers to appropriately maintain staff when the symptoms of chronic illness impact on work in any way. The service also aims to assist appropriate and timely disclosure of chronic illness by workers. I would encourage our government to look at Victoria’s work in this area and see what improvements it has been able to achieve.
I have also included in this motion a request that the ACT government collect and report on gender disaggregated data. Women are likely to experience different sorts of disabilities from those that men suffer and have different life circumstances. Past research, for example, has shown that men with disabilities are almost twice as likely to have jobs as women with disabilities. Men are also likely to access entry to labour market programs and earn higher incomes.
If the government does commit to collecting and analysing gender disaggregated data, it can then work with groups like the Women’s Centre for Health Matters to identify trends in women with disabilities and gaps in services. If the data can be combined with or focused on specific diversifying factors, such as age, education, cultural background, disability and occupation, we will also be able to validate and acknowledge the array of women’s experience and the importance of social determinants on women’s health and wellbeing.
MR STANHOPE (Ginninderra—Chief Minister, Minister for Transport, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Business and Economic Development, Minister for Land and Property Services, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and Minister for the Arts and Heritage) (8.22): The ACT government have a long commitment to the employment of people with disabilities in the ACT public service and we continue to engage with key stakeholders to ensure that government initiatives are responsive to the needs of people with a disability.
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