Tuesday, 20 February 2024

Members statements

All Things Equal

Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (13:23): Recently I had the pleasure of visiting the All Things Equal cafe in Carlisle Street, Balaclava. All Things Equal is a social enterprise that provides award-rate paid employment to people with disability. The cafe uses NDIS funding to provide cafe staff with one-on-one support from hospitality professionals to learn how to prepare and serve food. This is the very model of improved economic participation that the NDIS was designed for. During my visit to the cafe I was served by Brinley, a young and enthusiastic staff member who has been working at the cafe for eight months. It was great to witness the impact that this enterprise has on Brinley and his co-workers, who are not only keen to work but fully capable.

Since opening in 2021 All Things Equal has been dedicated to celebrating and embracing all abilities and proudly employs 28 staff members. They make great coffee, great cake – and they run a catering service too if anyone is in need of some good sandwiches. I would like to thank Jess, the CEO of All Things Equal, and Bianca, the general manager, who took the time to speak with me and whose work is critical to keeping this community organisation going, with support obviously from many across the community, including philanthropy. It demonstrates that organisations like All Things Equal are so critical to creating spaces where everyone is included, and there is an obvious demand for more of this type of service – they have got more than 70 people on their waitlist. Go down, check it out, support them.