Australia replaces job seeker program
Updated
Australia's Government is replacing the previous government's Job Network with a new employment search office called Job Services Australia.
It's estimated more than a quarter of a million people will be affected by the change; they'll have to find a new employment services provider and case worker. The new arrangements are being rolled out as unemployment increases, so does the system suit the current times?
Presenter: Lyndal Curtis
Speakers: Andrew Southcott, Australian opposition's employment participation spokesman; David Thompson, president of the Australian Council of Social Service and head of Jobs Australia Limited; Minister for Employment Participation, Mark Arbib
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CURTIS: Six years ago the Howard government introduced the Job Network, privatising employment services.
Today the Rudd Government's new version starts and the Opposition's spokesman on the issue, Andrew Southcott, isn't impressed.
SOUTHCOTT: It just defies belief that the Rudd Government have decided to completely disrupt this system and they're disrupting it at the worst possible time as unemployment is predicted to rise to almost one million job seekers over the next two years.
CURTIS: He believes the changes will result in wasted time for jobseekers.
SOUTHCOTT: For the over 700,000 job seekers who will be relying on this new system, there will be a lost six months which was entirely unnecessary.
CURTIS: David Thompson is the new president of the Australian Council of Social Service. He's also the head of Jobs Australia Limited, the peak organisation for non-profit employment services providers. He believes there will be hiccups as the system comes into force.
THOMPSON: The Government and the providers that it's contracted to deliver the new service have gone to extraordinary lengths to try and anticipate problems and to do their best not only to avoid them but to address them.
CURTIS: But he's a supporter of the changes that also roll all the employment programs into one.
The Minister, Mark Arbib says that's a strength.
ARBIB: We're asking job seekers to be patient during the early periods. A lot of work has been done to try and make the transition as smooth as possible, but at the same time there are going to be a lot of people changing to new providers and we will be asking for patience.
CURTIS: Will the settling in period take some months?
ARBIB: Well, it's hard to tell. We're going to monitor the transition pretty closely so we'll have to wait and see. But at the same time as that there will be major benefits for job seekers. They're going to get a much simpler and more personalised service, folding seven programs into one.
So stick with it; that's the word for job seekers. You're going to get a much better service and that means hopefully getting back into employment much quicker.
CURTIS: Job Services Australia is coming into being at the same time as the job queues are lengthening.
Mr Thompson says there will need to be some changes made to cope with the new circumstances.
THOMPSON: The Government, I think rightly at the time, put a lot more of the emphasis on investment and the financial incentives for providers on placing the most disadvantaged job seekers.
The problem that we'll now face is that those people are in an unemployment queue at the back of that queue now, that arguably is going to make it very much more difficult to get the most disadvantaged people into work and that may mean down the track the Government's going to have to recalibrate the financial settings of the system.
CURTIS: Senator Arbib says there is room for changes should they be needed.
ARBIB: We'll be looking at it. We'll be ensuring that we get the most effective system possible and we think we've got the balance right.
CURTIS: Andrew Southcott believes the changes the Government has made will lead to longer unemployment queues, but he says if the Coalition wins government it wouldn't be looking to significantly wind back the changes.
SOUTHCOTT: We would be looking to improve the model as it is rather than to have another big bang change which is the last thing that employment service providers and job seekers in this country need.
