Australia Rolls Out $2 Million Program to Help Disabled Individuals Into Leadership Positions

Pedestrians move past a billboard along George Street in Sydney, Australia on Oct. 18, 2022. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

The Albanese Labor government has awarded 100 scholarships as part of a $2 million program to advance the leadership careers of disabled individuals.

Offered in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), the scholarship program focused on women, Indigenous, and multicultural applicants.

Amanda Rishworth, minister for social services, said that disabled individuals face barriers to employment noting, however, that 88 percent required “no adjustments” to fulfill senior roles, just the opportunity.

“It’s important that people living with disability who gain employment have leadership pathways. It’s not just good for the individual, but good for the business and community too,” she said in a statement.

The successful applicants will undertake either the Company Directors Course or the Foundations of Directorship Course offered by the AICD.

A general view of buildings in Barangaroo in Sydney, Australia on Nov. 9, 2022. Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

CEO Mark Rigotti said the AICD was pleased to be delivering more opportunities for disabled leaders.

“The AICD understands the value and benefits of diversity around the board table, and this initiative is about empowering leaders with a disability to participate fully, building on their skills, governance knowledge, and director networks,” he said.

Another 100 scholarships will be available in the second round of the program, which is due to open in January 2023.

Labor on a Diversity Mission

This program is one of many rolled out by Australian government-linked groups to diversify the leadership makeup of the country’s organisations.

In October, the National Health and Medical Research Council pledged to provide an equal number of grants to women and male applicants. Currently, the organisation estimates that men receive 35 percent more grants and 67 percent more funding compared to women (around an extra $95 million a year).

Men have traditionally gravitated toward STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) compared to women, who have tended to be more involved in health and education.

The Council is also pledging to provide grants to non-binary applicants.

In September, the Labor government promised a swathe of initiatives to get more women working across Australian companies, including establishing a Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce to provide advice to “inform the National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality.”

As well as gender quotas in the Australian Public Service and requiring government departments to report regularly to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. A further commitment is to introduce “gender-responsive budgeting and apply gender impact analysis” on decisions in the Women’s Budget Statement and to cement “gender pay equity” into the Fair Work Act.

Yet one CEO of a listed Australian company previously told The Epoch Times that many individuals working in executive roles had expressed little interest in such initiatives.

“Most of the people I know who take on those non-executive roles or who run big public companies—and I speak to lots at conferences, events, and so forth—they’re all on the same page as me, and they could not care less about [gender or race] orientation. They just want the best person who’s going to get the best outcome for the company,” he said on condition of anonymity.