FEDERAL Member for New England Barnaby Joyce said today Peel Valley Training Enterprise Inc, OCTEC Limited and Serendipity [WA] Pty Ltd will be helping people with a disability to find jobs as part of a $300 million per year Government programme.

Mr Joyce said the Government had this year opened up to competitive tender the 47 per cent of Disability Management Service (DMS) currently delivered by CRS Australia.

DMS provides specialist assistance to job seekers with a temporary or permanent disability, injury or health condition.

“The non?government sector has shown it can effectively deliver these services, which is why it has been opened up to a competitive tender process,” Mr Joyce said.

“As a result, I am pleased to announce that these organisations will receive Commonwealth funding to deliver help to people with disability in the New England Electorate to find and keep a job.”

“Improving job opportunities for people with disability is a major priority for the Australian Government and I am pleased these organisations will be working to do just that in our local community,” Mr Joyce said.

“The open tender will give job-seekers with disability confidence that their DMS provider has a demonstrated ability to achieve high quality employment outcomes, and that they therefore have the best chance possible of finding and keeping a job,” he said.

Mr Joyce said the tender results across the country are a good outcome for regional Australia, with more than half of the successful tenderers having their registered address located outside the capital cities.

The new contracts will take effect from March 2015 and will be offered until March 2018.