Dr WASHER (12:43 PM) —I am very pleased to bring to the attention of the House the extra funding received in my electorate of Moore to assist job seekers with disabilities into the work force. The federal government has been running a trial of new case-based funding for disability employment assistance. This involves using Centrelink officers to sit down with individual job seekers to assess their needs and see how best we can support them in looking for work.

Since the trial began last November, around 2,000 job seekers with disabilities have received assistance throughout Australia. However, none of the areas picked for this trial have been in the outer northern metropolitan suburbs in my electorate of Moore. I am very happy to report that both Joondalup and Warwick Grove Centrelink regions have been picked up in an expansion of this trial as part of a $455,000 allocation to Western Australia. This means that people with disabilities living in the outer northern suburbs will greatly benefit from this assistance.

The importance of helping people with disabilities find meaningful employment cannot be stressed enough. There are people with disabilities in my electorate and, indeed, many of them used to be my patients. They have an enormous amount to contribute to the work force. They are loyal, reliable and highly productive people. By being included in this trial, people with disabilities in the Joondalup area will have new opportunities open to them and this will hopefully lead many of them to their rightful place in the Australian work force.

Main Committee adjourned at 12.45 p.m.