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"As a country, we still have a long way to go to take responsibility for ensuring that people with a disability are seen and treated equally in health, in education and in employment."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made these remarks in January this year, as he sought to provide reassurance about his government's commitment to the community after NDIS Minister Bill Shorten's departure.
His words are not news to those in the disability community.
And Jenny Karavolos from the Australian Autism Alliance says that for neurodiverse individuals, the unemployment rate is especially bad.
"Autistic Australians face an unemployment rate nearly six times higher than non-disabled peers, despite having learned valuable skills."
The government says it has sought to set the example, putting in place targets that require the Australian Public Service to employ a minimum number of individuals with disability.
But CEO of the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) Ross Joyce says even those targets are not being met - and in future they need to be even higher.
"We're actually running our election campaign and one part of that is looking at government leading by example and ensuring that we're trying to get as many people with disability engaged in the workforce as we should. At the moment, the target that they've got set for people with disability is 7 percent. That's up to June this year. They're not even going to meet that though, at about 5.4 percent across all departments and agencies. We're looking for a stretched target for them of about 15 percent."
But there are also issues within the private workforce.
Mr Joyce says most jobs are in the small business sector - but those who seek to help people with disability tend to focus on big business.
"We've been working consistently for a decade with small businesses that are one to two hundred employees, and they employ around about 72 percent of everybody across Australia. So, they're the bigger employers - and we'd like to see something happening in that space to push that further forward."
Jenny Karavolos says change starts at a cultural level, with understanding what people with a disability - and their carers - can bring to a workplace, and the simple changes that can make a big difference to them being comfortable, accepted, and productive.
"They're (disabled young people) not in employment; they need to support them at home. Often that means that the carer or the family member has only part time employment and many of them actually end up leaving employment altogether because their employer can't sustain the level of flexibility that's needed. So we've got - it sits around (an) almost $79 billion carer economy where there's many parents and carers who could be in the workforce, but because our systems aren't supporting people with disability, including neurodivergent people, they're not in the workforce either."
The federal government has long had a system in place that's meant to assist people with disability into the workforce.
Formerly known as the disability employment services stream - it will now be called Inclusive Employment Australia from July.
It will see more than $5 billion provided over four years to help more people with disability prepare for, find and maintain sustainable employment, including volunteer participants and people with a work capacity of less than eight hours per week.
Ross Joyce says he's optimistic the reforms can make a difference.
"You know, there's always challenges going to a new model... So, it's about how well you can bring in the understanding. Bring in the understanding (of what someone needs) not only for the participants but also obviously critical is for the employers, and also the DES (disability employment service) providers that are providing those services, making sure they are up to speed from July 1 so they can really get going with that."
It's not clear how the new employment services system will work in conjunction with the government's other disability strategies, like the newly announced Autism Action Plan.
Ross Joyce says employment for people with a disability is a complex issue that is interconnected with so many different government agencies and departments - and at the moment it's poorly coordinated.
But Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth says the Autism plan does show the government wants to bridge the gap between people who want to work and employers.
"The First Action Plan will fund projects to lead to better autism-specific training and resources for autistic people, to give them more opportunities to find meaningful employment and greater choice and control over their careers, but also for employers and employment providers to help support autistic people into the workplace and improve inclusion and acceptance."
Jenny Karavolos says state governments have a significant role to play in improving employment outcomes for people with disability - especially in the education sector.
She says disabled Australians struggle to access and complete qualifications - and for autistic individuals, the disadvantage is even more pronounced.
"Around 69 percent of autistic individuals that are attending education settings experience difficulty at their place of learning. We have a stat that autistic students are half as likely to complete year 10 than the general population and are only half as likely to complete a VET or university course than even others with other disabilities."
The upcoming federal election is likely to pull these issues into the spotlight even more.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has recently used a major speech to criticise cultural diversity jobs in the public sector, pledging to cut public servant numbers if he is elected, and to require them to be in the office full time.
Last year's federal public service census found that 61 percent of respondents had a work from home arrangement, with 47 per cent working away from the office regularly.
Mr Dutton has said that should not be happening.
"I don't think it’s unreasonable that people like in many other workplaces are asked to go back to work for face-to-face contact."
Unions have been immediately resistant to Mr Dutton's ideas.
Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Melissa Donnelly says remote working arrangements help people with a disability, Indigenous Australians, and women in particular.
" It will be harder to balance personal lives, caring responsibilities and working lives. This is an attack on working women."
Ross Joyce is also reluctant to eliminate work from home arrangements.
He says it would be disastrous for disabled workers and the diversity of the wider workforce.
"COVID - the only positive out of it was that it showed us that we can work from home and work effectively from home... Our whole workforce is working remotely for the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations. We've been doing that since 2019 before the pandemic, and we've been effectively operating in that way."
