Inner West aims to lead on disability employment

Wednesday 01 November 2023

In a local government first, Inner West Council has committed $100,000 to map out opportunities for disability employment throughout the whole organisation. With more than 20 service units across a vast array of different types of employment the Council is ideally placed to provide systemic employment options for disability employment.

“Everyone deserves the right to work. But a lack of employment is a common experience for many people with disability. This is something we want to change,” Inner West Mayor, Darcy Byrne said.

“We believe local government has a much bigger role to play in creating employment for people with disability and we want the Inner West to be a national leader on this crucial social justice issue.

“Early childhood education, library services, civil works, town planning and sport and recreation are just some of the services that Council operates that are obvious opportunities to provide training placements and permanent work for people of all abilities.

“People with disability make up 18% of the Australian population, meaning that approximately 38,000 local residents live with disability. Providing work opportunities for such a big section of our community is a first-order issue.

“For too long, people with disability have remained a shamefully untapped resource in the workforce. With this plan, Inner West is leading the way in the local government arena, setting out a roadmap of actions that will create lasting change.” Mayor Byrne said.

For media enquiries please contact Jonny Browne, Jonny.Browne@innerwest.nsw.gov.au