The National Autism Strategy, a symbolic step in the right direction for employment

Earlier this month the Department of Social Services finally released its National Autism Strategy. The strategy strongly resembles the Canadian National Autism Strategy and is a good symbolic first step in the right direction for the employment of autistic people but offers very little for employers or workplace support.

The strategy outlines key outcome areas social inclusion, economic inclusion, diagnosis and health & mental health. The government has devoted $42.3 million in funding to roll out the entire strategy over the next 2 to 5 years.[1] The proportion of this funding that is allocated to boosting pathways to meaningful employment is $915,000, a figure that is woefully short of what is needed to create meaningful employment opportunities for autistic people.

According to the strategy, autistic people make up 37% of those on the NDIS and in FY24 the NDIS cost Australian taxpayers $44.3 billion[2]. Finding meaningful employment opportunities for those on the spectrum should be a critical imperative for government to help to reduce the cost of the NDIS.

The allocation of less than 2% of the strategies funding towards boosting pathways to employment will not have an impact on the employment problem. A problem that sees autistic people six times more likely to be unemployed than others in the community.

In contrast, Canada, a country with a population of around 40 million recently released its autism strategy. The government, each year, provide individuals and employers with approximately $3 billion[3] (3.32 billion AUD) to obtain skills training and employment supports through the Labour Market Development Agreements (LMDAs) and the Workforce Development Agreements (WDAs). Admittedly, this funding supports broader cross section of community than just those on the autism spectrum but in Australia neither the NDIS nor the new autism strategy provide any support for employers that what to support autistic workers into meaningful roles.

Providing support and coaching services to autistic people and line managers in the workplace is essential in creating a productive and harmonious workplace for autistic people. In doing this we create workplaces that have been shown to deliver greater productivity, real results and innovative outcomes for business having a resoundingly positive effect on the economy.

auticon has been creating meaningful employment for autistic people for over a decade. We know that support and workplace training come at a cost, as we offer this support to all our workers. This does have an impact on our ability to compete in the marketplace, meaning that auticon operates with the leanest margins and must deliver the highest quality of work just to continue to operate while supporting our employees. At present we do not receive any government funding.

However, we do believe that if the Australian Government wants to improve outcomes for autistic people, they need to offer greater support for businesses. This support should be geared towards businesses that offer workplace coaching and support that enables autistic people to have jobs for the long term.

Autistic people want to work. They do not want to be dependent upon the NDIS. They need support in the workplace, they need to be given a fair go and the government needs to be supporting businesses that provide these types of pathways. The new National Autism Strategy could be vastly improved with greater support for business.


[1] MEDIA RELEASE: Release of the first National Autism Strategy, Ministers for the Department of Social Services

[2] National Autism Strategy 2025-203, First Action Plan 2025 – 2026, pg 23

[3] Canada’s Autism Strategy

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