The National Disability Insurance Agency has admitted it does not have quotas to employ people with disabilities in senior leadership positions, but is carrying out a workplace review.
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The admission has sparked Greens senator Jordon Steele-John to call out employment discrimination in the NDIA and usher in targets for people with disabilities into senior roles.
"There needs to be a focus on getting disabled people into senior positions in the NDIA, and not just sitting at the front desk folding papers," Senator Steele-John told The Canberra Times.
The Greens' disability rights and services spokesperson was asking NDIA senior bureaucrats facing a senate estimates hearing on Wednesday how many people with disabilities it employed above APS level three.
The hearing also heard that in some incidents, new software was not yet compatible with the assistive technology required by staff with disabilities.
It comes as the public service aims for 7 per cent of its workforce to comprise of people with disabilities, and is in the midst of carrying out a census of cultural and linguistic diversity in the public service.
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But NDIA chief executive Rebecca Falkingham said "there's no targets" within the agency but she was "endeavouring" to employ as many leaders with disabilities "as I possibly can".
Ms Falkingham said the NDIA was aiming to deliver a workforce strategy by mid-year to help more with disabilities grow their careers within the agency.
She said the NDIA was reviewing targets, long-term employment opportunities for people with disabilities and supporting more people to identify as having a disability.
"Because as you know, it's not enough just to get people into the agency. It's how do we support people once they're at the agency?" Ms Falkingham said.
"I want to see as many talented people with disability be able to cart the pipeline of the NDIA through all positions in the agency, we don't have a comprehensive approach within the agency.
"It's really important people feel safe within the workforce to me, and that they feel that they can bring their lived experience into the workforce."
Senator Steele-John said employment discrimination was an issue in the labour market generally, but was a "big problem" in the NDIA.
"It's got to such a point where they can't deny it, but it's good to see a response to community pressure on the issue," he said.
He said the agency needed more people with disabilities in its senior ranks to deliver better outcomes for the community.
Federal Labor had made a pre-election promise to boost the number of people with disabilities on the NDIA board.
But Senator Steele-John said although there were now people with disabilities on the board, they were not yet a majority.
He also described the APS' 7 per cent target as "woefully low", stating 50 per cent of people with disabilities were unemployed or under-employed.
