For more than 27 years, Shane Garcie has worked as a crew member with Bluegum Grounds Maintenance.
Operated through Noss Tasmania, the not-for-profit organisation supports people living with disability through training and employment opportunities.
At Bluegum, this includes grounds maintenance and gardening services for some of Tasmania's biggest industrial and commercial businesses.
And after almost three decades, Bluegum manager Mike McOwan said Mr Garcie had earned the reputation of being one of their most hardworking team members.
"He is one of our best, most reliable, easy going, never has a complaint employees," he said.
"Shane is one of the people who keeps Bluegum going every year and makes it a great success."
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Despite progress being made in recent years, Mr McOwan said there was still a long way to go to ensure people living with disability were given meaningful opportunities for employment.
It's something Labor hopes to address, with a plan to mandate government agencies to spend 2 per cent of their supplies and consumables budgets with Australian Disability Enterprises.
Labor leader Rebecca White said the plan would inject $26 million into those businesses and support the creation of 300 jobs, across a wide range of industries.
"Disability enterprises across Tasmania provide broad opportunities to Tasmanians living with disability across a range of industries including packaging, assembly, production, recycling, screen printing, cleaning services and nursery and landscaping services," she said.
"They offer Tasmanians living with disability the chance for inclusion and the opportunity to contribute to their community.
"But during the COVID pandemic, nearly half of the 450 Tasmanians they employ worked from home and their jobs are now at risk with the winding back of JobKeeper."
There are about a dozen disability enterprises operating in Tasmania, including Noss.
Chief executive Ruth Chalk said they welcomed any initiative that would help improve opportunities for people with disability, including increasing the variety of jobs.
"Anything where local businesses are encouraged to employ people with disability, or contract or get products developed by disability enterprise, it all goes to help expand the opportunities for employment for people with a disability," she said.
Providing support and employment opportunities for more than 140 people, Ms Chalk said Noss' goal was to help people to achieve their dreams.
"When someone with a disability is looking for employment, they are looking for exactly what everyone is looking for in employment. Our people do a real job for award-based wages and it's everything they want in a workplace and a job."
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Jessica Willard
Being a health reporter to me is about more than just reporting the problems. It's about asking why they are happening in the first place and what needs to change to fix it.
Being a health reporter to me is about more than just reporting the problems. It's about asking why they are happening in the first place and what needs to change to fix it.
