Workforce Australia privatisation a trap that made jobless less employable: Julian Hill

Labor MP Julian Hill is proposing a rethink of the new employment services model, Workforce Australia, just months after its rollout.

The providers' contracts were condemning jobseekers to the poverty trap, demeaned and "consigned for life to insecure work" in order to drive down the number of people claiming welfare benefit, he said.

Cost cutting within the employment services system itself was the other consistent objective of the last 20 years of successive governments, Mr Hill told conference of providers in Sydney on Tuesday.

"One thing that is absent entirely is any objective of supporting people into good, secure, appropriately paid jobs - sustainable work," he said.

The privatised provider market was plagued with "creaming and parking" - helping those jobseekers most likely to find employment while underinvesting in the cases who need the most help, he said.

He noted that the governments did not measure any outcomes beyond 6 months, nor commission longitudinal studies, and instead allowed the politically potent stereotype of the 'dole-bludger' to thrive.

The new mutual obligations penalty system known as the targeted compliance framework was like making citizens play a daily dystopian game show for their own survival and it made sense why many would make a rationale choice to remain unemployed or underemployed, he said.

"It felt like Boston Consulting meets Squid Game in a dystopian reality TV show that we make citizens play every day," he said.

READ MORE:

Mutual obligations in exchange for unemployment support was here to stay, Mr Hill clarified. Nor was it worth the "pointless political fight" to change the name to mutual accountability to reflect the expectation that job seekers will make reasonable efforts to secure work in return for social security support.

"My firm belief, however, is that mutual obligation must actually be mutual," he said, in which the state also lives up to its part of the bargain, providing meaningful support to people to skill and retrain where needed and to find work - preferably secure jobs.

"And that the state should not make people do things that harm them or make them less employable on the way. 'Work for the Dole' anyone?"

Travers McLeod, executive director of the Brotherhood of St Laurence said the system was now fully outsourced, but the money could be better spent.

The system now has a heavy reliance on digital services, which can be problematic for many of those most in need of support.

"For jobseekers that means choosing their own adventure through those [digital] services without the wraparound support we know is necessary for many of them - be it housing, care, better pathways to education and training, and supported engagement with employers who can build on the job experience and training in a way that grows confidence and capability," he said.

"We don't think Workforce Australia is the answer for disadvantaged jobseekers because the model repeats the mistakes of the past. The dollars deployed could be much better spent."

"It's a fully outsourced system in which we're hoping providers will work hand-in-glove with those jobseekers to build capability and confidence - we don't think the design will get us there. For jobseekers it feels much more like a trap."

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.