Employment services back in public hands!
For decades private employment service providers have taken public money, exploited people doing it tough, and made billions.1
In the privatised employment services system, only job providers win. Employment services should be back in public hands, where focus is on support, not shareholder dividends.
This year, the Albanese Government is looking into the system, opening up an opportunity for an overhaul.2 But taking on a big, greedy industry will take guts — and the government will need to know it has public backing.
So let's demonstrate to the Albanese Government that bold action has popular support. Sign the petition: bring employment services back into public hands!
In the privatised employment services system, only job providers win. Employment services should be back in public hands, where focus is on support, not shareholder dividends.
This year, the Albanese Government is looking into the system, opening up an opportunity for an overhaul.2 But taking on a big, greedy industry will take guts — and the government will need to know it has public backing.
So let's demonstrate to the Albanese Government that bold action has popular support. Sign the petition: bring employment services back into public hands!
Right now, the delivery of employment services is outsourced to private "employment service providers" who get public money kickbacks for churning people on income support through the system.
They have a steady stream of revenue, no matter how terrible their service is. The government's punitive compliance regime — called "mutual obligations" — forces people on income support to engage with these private providers and complete onerous activities, or risk having their payments and financial lifeline brutally cut-off.
A mountain of evidence proves that mutual obligations and the privatised employment services system does not effectively support people to find work — and in fact, causes them more harm than good. It exists solely to benefit providers.
An overhaul of employment services is well overdue — and this year, a parliamentary committee called the inquiry into Workforce Australia Employment Services will be reviewing the system. Now is the moment for a big and bold campaign for a public jobs service with people, not profit, at its heart. Help power this campaign to make the most of this moment!
They have a steady stream of revenue, no matter how terrible their service is. The government's punitive compliance regime — called "mutual obligations" — forces people on income support to engage with these private providers and complete onerous activities, or risk having their payments and financial lifeline brutally cut-off.
A mountain of evidence proves that mutual obligations and the privatised employment services system does not effectively support people to find work — and in fact, causes them more harm than good. It exists solely to benefit providers.
An overhaul of employment services is well overdue — and this year, a parliamentary committee called the inquiry into Workforce Australia Employment Services will be reviewing the system. Now is the moment for a big and bold campaign for a public jobs service with people, not profit, at its heart. Help power this campaign to make the most of this moment!
A reimagining of employment services should be designed in consultation with unemployed people themselves. But existing evidence shows it should at least include these broad principles:
- Employment services should be back in public hands. Only then will it have support, not revenue, truly at its heart. It will also create public jobs as part of the service, and connect people seeking jobs to the work our communities need.
- Remove brutal compliance regimes. Academic research shows punitive "mutual obligations" cause people on income support to take longer to find work — the exact opposite of its supposed intention. For people on income support, having their payments arbitrarily cut-off only compounds hardship and stress, and does far more harm than good. A helpful, well-designed service would be popular by default — it wouldn't need to threaten payment cut-offs.
[1] 'Should Australian companies make millions out of people's unemployment misery?', The Guardian, 27 August 2022.
[2] 'Exclusive: Leaked Burke speech sets stakes for welfare reforms', The Saturday Paper', 8-14 October 2022.
[2] 'Exclusive: Leaked Burke speech sets stakes for welfare reforms', The Saturday Paper', 8-14 October 2022.
SIGN THE PETITION
To Employment Minister Tony Burke MP and the Albanese Government:
The revenue-focused employment services system is only benefitting private job providers. Our public money should be used for public good.
We call on you to:
34,800 signatures
We need 1,200 more
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