Labor sets out disabilities jobs plan

Federal Labor has pledged a range of services, beyond the national disability insurance scheme, to help get people with disabilities into work.

Opposition families spokeswoman Jenny Macklin on Tuesday flagged new partnerships with not-for-profit bodies, an overhaul of Disability Employment Services and public sector employment targets, if Labor wins the election.

Some 53 per cent of Australians with disabilities are in the labour force, compared with 83 per cent for those without. About 27 per cent are in full-time work.

Disability reform doesn't begin and end with the NDIS, Ms Macklin said.

"While the NDIS will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians with disability, many more will still need our support so they too can reach their full potential," she told a forum in Canberra.

Under the plan, businesses will be able to access a $1 million fund to develop disability employment action plans.

Ms Macklin gave the example of Telstra, which two decades ago introduced such a plan to boost job opportunities for people with disability, set a timeline and mapped progress indicators.

A new national disability employment framework would be set up, at a cost of $5 million over two years, along similar lines to the NDIS's key principles of individual choice and control.

"In selected trial locations, people with disability who want to work will be able to choose their own employment supports as part of their individual plan," Ms Macklin said.

Only 3.1 per cent of Commonwealth public servants are people with disabilities.

A Labor government would work with the Australian Public Service Commission to set targets at a national and departmental level and for leadership positions.