Ms Anna Shakespeare:

Our observation is that the programmes we administer all have an employment activation focus as their primary objective. However, the critical success factors are often specialised equipment, access to accessible transport, adapted workplaces, individualised training and one-to-one support, which we have heard testimony about from Mr. Hannafin. That represents not just an implementation challenge but a funding challenge and may act as a disincentive to an employer or to an individual, and members have heard Mr. Hannafin speak about the associated costs.

I may sound like an old chestnut when I say that we need whole-of-government thinking in respect of who has responsibility for joining the dots, pulling them together and how that can happen. In the past we had a cross-sectoral disability strategy. We must make sure that those golden threads get pulled through all the different policy initiatives, which are superb for employment but employment will only happen with those other supports. A real ordinary life will only happen with those other supports. We certainly see that through the social inclusion and community activation programme. At the core of that programme they pull together a lot of the threads within that local community to support that person to integrate within all of that. Those are the critical success factors.