Preliminary steps already underway, but report makes 75 recommendations for government
A new committee report is calling for major reforms to Australia's Commonwealth Employment Services System after it found "significant and numerous flaws.”
The final report of the Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services said the flaws cannot be addressed by "mere tweaks to policies and programmes."
"The current system is inefficient, tying clients and providers up in red tape, driving away businesses and effectively making too many people less employable by requiring them to do silly courses, pointless activities or apply for jobs they simply cannot do," said committee chair Julian Hill in a statement.
"It has failed to prepare people for today's red-hot labour market and to effectively address long-term unemployment, with 150,000 people stuck in the system for over five years. This must change."
The report made 75 recommendations to "rebuild" the Commonwealth Employment Services System. Some of the major ones include:
- A stronger, more active role for the Commonwealth government, by establishing Employment Services Australia as a rebuilt public sector core
- An enhanced and—in some respects—radically different service model
- A new regulatory culture and more relational contracting model
- Focusing far more on demand and employer engagement
- Broadened and tailored approach to mutual obligations and a new Shared Accountability Framework for compliance
- Seriously considering integrating digital employment marketplaces
- Re-professionalising the sector's workforce
"Fundamental change is needed to better support the most disadvantaged in society and to get better value for money. Over $9.5 billion will be spent over the next four years and employment services are the Commonwealth's largest single procurement outside Defence," Hill said.
Government response to report
In response, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has agreed that the current employment services system "treats everyone the same."
"It's like an emergency room that treats every patient the same way. This one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work," Burke said in a statement. "The employment services system needs to better understand people's circumstances and connect them with the right support."
According to the minister, the government is already taking "preliminary steps towards large-scale reform."
"Work has begun to deliver the government's ambitious programme of reform. We will collaborate with the community and business to make sure we get it right," he said.
