The Australian government has increased funding for the Employment Assistance Fund (EAF) to enhance employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. The EAF offers financial assistance for modifications, equipment, disability awareness training, and interpreting services. This move follows the government’s commitment to creating more work opportunities for individuals with disabilities in the 2022 jobs and skills summit. The new EAF caps, which is the first increase in 13 years, include a doubling of the funding for work-related Auslan interpreting services to $12,000 and building modification support from $30,000 to $60,000. The government will also index the funding caps in July 2023. Employers no longer have to submit applications before hiring Auslan interpreters; they can now apply within five business days after the interview. According to Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth, this increase in funding will assist job seekers to access the necessary interpreting services and ensure modifications in workplaces, and no one will miss out on job opportunities because of cost. The federal government aims to decrease the unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities, which has remained unchanged for over 30 years.
The federal government has also disclosed that it will cease outsourcing debt collection for social security welfare payments to avoid another robodebt incident. This policy prevents debt collectors ARL Collect, Milton Graham, and Probe Operations from renewing their contracts after June 30, following the robodebt scheme, an unlawful debt recovery program that falsely claimed welfare recipients owed the government money, leading to forced repayments. National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Minister Bill Shorten indicated that the debt collection process should be legal, customer-centric, and respectful, given the unlawful cruelty of debt collection agencies encountered during the Royal Commission into Robodebt. He also stated that while some welfare recipients are opportunistic, government agencies are entirely capable of recovering debts. Service Australia agents will contact those with outstanding debts and offer short-term counseling, referrals to support systems, and flexible repayment alternatives. The robodebt scheme previously recovered $750 million from 381,000 Australians and was compensated with $1.8 billion by the federal government. The debt collection process had a traumatic impact on many welfare recipients.