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Mutual obligations don’t get people jobs, says job agencies

28 May 2021, Guardian Australia, Luke Henriques-Gomes. Access the full article here. Both privatised job providers and employers are unsatisfied with the regime, a draft report says Privatised job agencies concluded welfare mutual obligationsParticipation requirements welfare recipients must fulfil each month to continue… did not “improve the likelihood of employment” for jobseekers in unreleased evidence …

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Government pays $2 million in settlement over racist employment program

23 December 2021, Guardian Australia, Luke Henriques-Gomes. Access the full article here. Indigenous leaders argued participants faced tougher welfare penalties than those in other parts of Australia The federal government will pay a traditional owners corporation representing some of the poorest communities in Australia more than $2m after settling a class action that argued the …

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Ronnie spent five years looking for work. A new report says many others are ‘being left behind’

8 December 2022, SBS News, Aleisha Orr. Access the full article here. A report has found those with barriers to work, such as older workers who have lost their jobs later in life, people who did not finish year 12, or people living with disabilities struggle to get into the workforce. Ronnie Ware has spent …

Ronnie spent five years looking for work. A new report says many others are ‘being left behind’ Read More »

“Job agent” caught blaming a job seeker for unemployment

23 February 2022, SBS News, Eden Gillespie. Access the full article here. WISE Employment and the Department of Social Services have launched investigations into the alleged conduct shown in the video. A job agent has been captured on camera telling an unemployed man that it’s his own fault that he cannot find work. The video, …

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Australia has its lowest unemployment rate in decades. Why are some jobseekers struggling to find work?

18 August 2022, SBS News, Jessica Bahr. Access the full article here. Australia’s unemployment rate has dropped to a historic low, but some groups are being left behind. Why? Unemployment numbers in Australia have hit record lows for the past few months, but these patterns aren’t echoed across all demographics. According to June data from …

Australia has its lowest unemployment rate in decades. Why are some jobseekers struggling to find work? Read More »

Workforce Australia launch plagued with disaster

6 July 2022, Innovation Australia, Denham Sadler. Access the full article here. ‘Confluence of disasters’: Workforce Australia launch plagued by tech issues The Department of Employment this week launched Workforce Australia, a new employment service replacing jobactive. This involves an online service, smartphone app and a network of job providers. Through these services, job seekers …

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Australia’s billion-dollar welfare-to-work system gave recipients fake CVs — with people’s real details

15 February 2023, Crikey, Cam Wilson. Access the full article here. One person whose number was shared on a fake CV was receiving phone calls because of Workforce Australia’s online learning module. Workforce Australia has included people’s real phone numbers in fake résumés shown to JobSeeker recipients and published online. The Department of Employment and …

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‘It isn’t working’: the government’s Workforce Australia launch derailed by outages and errors

5 July 2022, Crikey, Cam Wilson. Access the full article here. Australians who risk losing welfare payments if they don’t fulfil Workforce Australia’s requirements were unable to access the service at launch. The rollout of the federal government’s new unemployment services program, Workforce Australia, has been derailed by technical issues, with some of the 750,000 …

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‘Where is their obligation to us?’ Unemployed workers protest the Albanese government’s new welfare obligations

1 June 2022, Crikey, Cam Wilson. Access the full article here. For unemployed workers who are soon to be included in a new mutual obligation scheme, there’s no honeymoon period for the Albanese government. Undeterred by a drizzly Sydney day, a group of protesters led by the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union (AUWU) gathered at the …

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Punished for studying

11 August 2022, ABC News, Evan Young and Norman Hermant. Access the full article here. Students receiving JobSeeker Centrelink payments say they’re being ‘penalised’ for studying Rebekah Maslen has been working hard to prepare herself for a new career. The Ocean Grove-based student is completing a diploma of early childhood education and care, which includes 24 …

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Labor government proceeds with Workforce Australia rollout

19 June 2022, ABC News, Tom Lowrey. Access the full article here. Federal government looks to fix, rather than dump, controversial changes to unemployment benefits From July, the JobActive scheme, which requires people receiving JobSeeker benefits to apply for 20 jobs a month, will be scrapped. Employment Minister Tony Burke said while the new scheme is flawed, there …

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