Earlier this month, NDS met with Employment Participation Minister Kate Ellis to argue the case for a more limited tender process for Employment Support Services (ESS) than that announced in the 2011-12 Budget.
The Australian Greens have called for a delay in the tender process for Disability Employment Services following the release of a Senate Committee report making a number of recommendations for change to the process.
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Disability Employment Australia welcomes the recommendations made by the Senate into the future of Disability Employment Services – Employment Support Services (DES-ESS) in Australia.
Disability Employment Australia CEO, Lynette May said, ‘This is a fantastic result for people with disability in Australia. The Senate’s report firmly supports quality of service for jobseekers and employees with disability, and their employers. We call on the government to address the report’s recommendations, and to delay the DES tender process.’
On 22 August 2011 the Senate referred the following matters to the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee for inquiry and report. The report was released today.
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A Senate Inquiry was announced on the 22nd of August into issues of procurement and quality of service across the Disability Employment Services (DES) sector.
Disability Employment Australia and Senator Rachel Siewart have been successful in securing a Senate Inquiry. Read the Terms of Reference for the Inquiry.
Disability Employment Australia are very pleased to announce that we have been successful in securing a Senate Inquiry on the tender process specifically, and issues relating to Disability Employment Services more generally.
Lynette May, CEO of Disability Employment Australia, speaks to Robin Winslow of Vision Australia Radio about the planned re-tendering of disability Employment Support Services (ESS) and the NO to 80% Tender campaign.
Listen to the interview (this will download a 3mb MP3 file).
Read the transcript.
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The ‘NO to 80% Tender’ campaign opposes the Labor Government’s decision to enforce over 80% of disability Employment Support Services to re-tender for government contracts in 2012, in what would be an unnecessary use of millions of taxpayer dollars.