Some disabled workers can legally be paid $3.31 an hour. Here’s how to reform a system built for a different era

By Sam Bennett, Disability Program Director, Grattan Institute
Reilly Polaschek, Associate, Grattan Institute

Disabled people employed in specialist disability workplaces – what used to be called sheltered workshops but today are more often called Australian disability enterprises – can be paid sub-minimum wages as low as $8.32 under the relevant award, the Supported Employment Services Award.

Disabled people’s wages can be further reduced to a fraction of the award wage – as low as $3.31 per hour– by a mechanism called…

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