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Photo: Four million Australians have a disability that restricts activities of daily living. (stock.xchng: muresan113) By ABC's Stella Young http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-19/young-dsability-reform-is-enough-to-keep-any-minister-busy/4969060 Given Australia's lacklustre record on disability reform and the number of people relying on improvement, let's hope we don't rue the abolition of a dedicated minister for this portfolio, writes Stella Young. Awaiting the announcement of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's new Cabinet appointments earlier this week, there was one question on my mind: Would Senator Mitch Fifield be our new minister for disability reform? I was hopeful. In his role as shadow minister for disabilities, carers and the voluntary sector, Fifield was a tireless champion for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Furthermore, he understands that disability reform isn't just about the NDIS; it's about education, employment, infrastructure and inclusion in all aspects of Australian life. There couldn't be a better appointment for the Disability Reform portfolio. (Well, I suppose there could be a cabinet minister who actually has lived experience of disability, but this is Australia where education and employment opportunities for people with disability are few and far between, so that's pretty unlikely to happen soon.) So it came as a bit of a surprise to hear Fifield named not as minister for disability reform, but Assistant Minister for the new portfolio of Social Services. This new brief will be overseen by Kevin Andrews and will encompass aged care, disability, housing, all income support payments and pensions, services for migrants and refugees, as well as multicultural affairs. Furthermore, the Abbott Government will disband the social inclusion board, established under the former government to look at the causes and effects of entrenched disadvantage. With the NDIS, often referred to as the biggest social reform since Medicare, kicked off and rolling out across Australia over the next five years, I would have thought anyone with the remit of disability reform would have been pretty busy. Further to that significant work, there are inequalities in many areas of Australian life to address for people with disability, and there are an awful lot of us. In 2009, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that an estimated four million people (18.5 per cent of the population) have a disability that restricted activities of daily living. You'd think that nearly 20 per cent of the population would warrant their own minister. Disability is hardly a fringe concern. And let's talk about all the ways disability causes and affects entrenched disadvantage for a moment. In 2011, a report by Price Waterhouse Coopers found that people with disability in Australia have the poorest quality of life among people with disabilities in other OECD countries. We are more than twice as likely as those without disabilities to be living near or below the poverty line. When it comes to workforce participation rates, we rank 21st out of the 29 OECD countries. Fewer than 40 per cent of us are employed, compared to about 80 per cent of non-disabled Australians. That social inclusion board really was just a little bit necessary. While it is great news for Australians with disability that we haven't lost Mitch Fifield entirely from the portfolio (and indeed, that disability hasn't been relegated to the status of having a parliamentary secretary rather than a minister), the breadth of his new role makes it extremely unlikely that disability will be given a heavy focus. And we need it. That's how change happens. That's how we lift the low expectations carried by people with disabilities. That's how we improve educational outcomes and workforce participation. That's how we improve the economy. The UK, to which Australia is often compared when it comes to disability outcomes, boasts an entire Office for Disability Issues, even under the conservative Cameron government. Even a cursory glance at their website highlights the difference between their attitudes and ours when it comes to disability. The prominence of their Disability Equality Indicators is a prime example. The indicators are "a starting point in measuring progress towards disability equality". We hardly dare to talk about "disability equality" in Australia. We're too busy trying to claw our way out of the entrenched disadvantage. With so much on his plate, I just hope Mitch Fifield will remain as committed to improving the lives of people with disabilities as he was in opposition. Stella Young is the editor of ABC's Ramp Up website. View her full profile here.