Work from home and cost of living are shaping up to be key election issues. Both are vital concerns for People with Disability. The Liberal Party has recognised this by quickly abandoning their former policy platform on working from home.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton quickly backtracked from his “attack” on the work-from-home after facing a nationwide backlash. "We made a mistake in relation to this policy, and I think it's important that we say that and recognise it," Dutton now says. 

Working from home is a critical issue for People with Disability. 

The 2022 Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey data found that work-from-home measures saw workforce participation jump by nearly six percentage points for this cohort and others with similar health conditions. 

In 2022, there were 5.5 million Australians identifying as having a disability.

Peter Carnegie is exactly one of those people who has been unable to work in a traditional, nine-to-five job. His son has a neurodevelopmental disability, dyspraxia, and his wife died last year. He is the quintessential example of the sort of person who does not fit into the traditional mould.

His situation provides a dramatic example of the ripple effect of disability. Caring for the needs of one person, particularly a child, can end up creating massive new challenges for an entire family. It is often extremely difficult to find adequate answers from existing supports.

Speaking on the ABC’s Q&A this week, Carnegie pointed out that caring for his son means he’s fallen through the cracks in accessing employment. Two days later, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had changed Liberal policy.

That’s the power of a single individual example.

Carnegie says that for him JobSeeker, for example, had become a “tick-a-box” exercise that is not offering him the sort of support he needs. Because his young boy is struggling, Carnegie says he hasn’t even been able to attend TAFE for retraining. 

The $159.30 fortnightly carers allowance and $781.10 maximum JobSeeker rate clearly demonstrate how little many Australians can spend. This not only limits the amount they have to support themselves but also means less is being spent to stimulate the economy.

Indexing does increase payments, but often fails to keep up with increasing prices. For as long as income support is measured according to partner income, Australians are pushed into economically dependent relationships. 

The pandemic also saw the introduction of world-first work-from-home laws. These have been praised for allowing people with disability to work in an accessible way.

Three-time national wheelchair basketball player and Paralympian Shelley Matheson, who works for Medibank, says work-from-home measures have given her the flexibility to work in an accessible environment.

“Even when people have the best intentions, trying to make accommodations makes you different [to others]. And, for me, true inclusion is everybody having the same thing,” Matheson said.

The work-from-home measures have been credited for allowing people with disabilities, including those with chronic illness and their families, the flexibility to be productive while managing their conditions. 

Global Social Development and Social Researcher Angelica Ojinnaka-Psillakis says Australians face a “cost of survival crisis”. 

People with profound disability face unique challenges in housing, financial, social, and administrative barriers.

People on the NDIS contribute 100 per cent of their Commonwealth Rent Assistance, plus up to 50 per cent of their Disability Support Pension, to cover rent in group homes or other accommodations.

The labour force participation rate for people with disability has remained largely unchanged from 2003 (53%) to 2018 (53.4%).

With work from home under threat and the cost-of-living crisis intensifying, people with disability are shaping up to be a key election demographic.

- Melissa Marsden