The Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services recommended large scale reform to fundamentally rebuild the Commonwealth Employment Services System. Julian Hill chaired the Committee, leading the first principles review of Australia’s employment services system, the first of its kind since services were privatised by the Howard Government nearly 25 years ago.
Hill said, “It’s harsh but true to say that Australia no longer has an effective coherent national employment services system; we have an inefficient outsourced fragmented social security compliance management system that sometimes gets someone a job against all odds.
“It should not be controversial to state that full privatisation has failed. Even the previous government implicitly admitted this by bringing a large caseload back to the public sector with Workforce Australia Online.“
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. 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.”
Julian addressed the February 2024 John Cain Lunch to discuss the findings of the review, and the implications for public services.
