Disability employment group Maxima expands into Tasmania

Not-for-profit group Maxima opened outlets at 67 to 75 Paterson Street, Launceston and in Hobart on Sunday.

Maxima chairman John Schumann said an overhaul of the federal government’s Disability Employment Services program introduced “much-needed competition”.

Mr Schumann said under the existing model, disability employment service providers were guaranteed client referrals based on location.

Now jobseekers with a disability would have “much greater freedom” to choose their provider.

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“There will be other important changes that mean providers will have an incentive to work harder for their clients,” Mr Schumann said.

Mr Schumann said Maxima was “at the forefront” of the new wave of competition, and encouraged jobseekers with a disability to get in touch.

“Our staff live and breathe our ethos of ‘we see potential’,” he said.

“They approach potential employers to create opportunities that otherwise would not exist and negotiate specialist training and support.

“And if taking our clients to the shops or driving them to work is what it takes to get the ball rolling, then that’s what they do.”