Employment Minister Tony Burke says it is “too late” to remove the controversial changes to unemployment benefits to be introduced next month, so the government will seek to amend the plan.
Key points:
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Starting in July, the JobActive plan will be phased out, requiring people receiving JobSeeker benefits to apply for 20 jobs a month.
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Employment Minister Tony Burke said that while the new scheme is flawed, there is not enough time to avoid it.
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Some are concerned that the new system may be more difficult to work with than the current one
Starting in July, the JobActive plan will be phased out, requiring people receiving JobSeeker benefits to apply for 20 jobs a month.
It will be replaced by a new scheme called Workforce Australia, which will require jobseekers to earn 100 points a month through job applications, interviews and training.
The new scheme was designed under the Morrison government, and the changes have been criticized by some community advocates for being poorly communicated, causing “fear and confusion.”
Some are concerned that the new system may be more difficult to work with than the current one.
Employment Minister Tony Burke told Sky News that while the new scheme is flawed, there is not enough time to avoid it.
“It’s actually too late to have any point system,” he said.
“It’s about going in and doing it logically, and making sure that when all these contracts go into effect in a couple of weeks, we actually have a system that helps the long-term unemployed.”
But he said changes will be needed to ensure the new scheme does not leave job seekers worse off.
“What the government has designed, part of it is more punitive than doing the job really,” he said.
“We want to make sure, and I’ll change that over the next week, to make sure we can have a system designed to get people to work, rather than some media maneuver to punish people.”
The concept is “correct”, but they need to be adjusted
The government argues that the broad concept of the new scheme is good and that the existing JobActive plan clearly needs to be changed.
A Labor-dominated Senate committee found in 2019 that the plan was not “appropriate for its purpose” and the requirement to apply for 20 jobs a month made it difficult instead of helping people work.
The work supports the idea of ”mutual obligations”: that jobseeker recipients must continually complete certain tasks in order to receive payments.
Employment Minister Tony Burke says it is too late to rule out controversial changes to unemployment benefits that will be launched in July. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Burke said the idea of extending that idea beyond the simple job application is a good one.
“Being able to consider whether someone gets a forklift driver’s license, a driver’s license, things like that, are valid things to consider,” he said.
His main criticisms of the new scheme are plans to send automated messages to people warning them that they run the risk of losing payments and the formula used to award points.
For example, he said it would be unrealistic to expect someone to take a full-time course and apply for a job at the same time.
“If you’re taking a full-time course, whether it’s an English course or a course to prepare for work, that still doesn’t get you there. [to 100 points]”He said.
“So you still have to apply for other jobs, which if you apply and get an interview, you won’t be able to finish your course.”
The new scheme comes into force on July 4, leaving the government only fifteen days to make the changes it deems necessary immediately.