Tony Burke has called for his APS workforce to be guided by stewardship in a major shakeup of Australia’s employment services system following the publication of Labor’s employment white paper, which will also include deploying staff to three regions in Western Australia.
The federal government plans to fix the Local Jobs Program to ensure that it serves more people looking for work and meets community needs.
On Monday, Burke said public servants would be dispatched to the Broome, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie regions in WA as part of the reforms to develop place-based policy.
“I want to make sure that for people who are looking for work, we’re removing barriers and getting them into jobs,” Burke said.
“We want to design a system that is tailored to meet their needs too. If we do that we don’t just help employers fill gaps with workers they’re desperately looking for, but we change people’s lives.”
Building a fairer and more equal employment services system in Australia is one of several core objectives outlined in the ‘Future work’ policy outlined in the white paper.
This particular reform will feature what the minister said was policy development that applied a best-practice approach to place-based co-design.
To this end, Burke’s team of public servants have been given instructions to share relevant data with local communities, and expand the eligibility of the government program so that more individuals looking for work could join in.
“We have record-low unemployment in Australia at the moment. But we can’t look at that and just say, job done.
“We need to make sure we use this opportunity to support some of the most disadvantaged people to connect with jobs,” the minister said.
Labor’s roadmap for a more dynamic and inclusive labour market has diagnosed the domestic market as “falling short of its potential”, suggesting about 3 million Australians who wanted to work more faced barriers from participation such as their gender, personal characteristics, where they lived, and other intersecting reasons for disadvantage.
“Australia’s productivity growth has declined and is falling behind international peers. This is limiting opportunities for businesses to thrive and for people to benefit from sustainable real wage growth,” the white paper read.
“Building up the potential and inclusiveness of Australia’s labour market is critical to our ability to deliver on our broader social, economic and environmental goals.”
Burke said broad reform work of the employment services system would look to connect people with quality job opportunities; addressing structural barriers including skills, training and entrenched disadvantage; and helping employers to plan for and meet their needs.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers pointed to eight principles published in the white paper that would be used to reform the employment services system, while better supporting people, and collaborating with employers and communities.
“We want to help more Australians to grab the jobs and opportunities on offer and employment services is an important part of the story,” Chalmers said.
“Near-record low unemployment and record high labour force participation are some of our best defences against global economic volatility but we can’t see Australia’s remarkably strong labour market as an excuse to turn a blind eye to the kind of entrenched disadvantage we see in communities right across the country.”
The principles include:
- Viewing services as an investment to unlock individual potential, address employer needs and work with industry to bolster growth;
- Embedding strong APS stewardship in the employment services system, and the outcomes it delivers to ensure that individuals are not left behind;
- Ensuring services protect the dignity and respect rights of individuals;
- Providing a pathway towards decent jobs that provide the flexibility and security that individuals need;
- Employers use employment services to help meet their workforce needs, and can access guidance on innovative job design, recruitment practices and inclusive approaches to workforce development;
- Designing employment services through collaboration with individuals, employers and the community;
- Ensuring services help people at the earliest opportunity, informed by fit-for-purpose assessment processes; and
- Delivering evidence-based reforms, grounded by high-quality evaluation and continuous learning and improvement.
The government will also use the principles to consider recommendations from a report produced by the Parliamentary Inquiry into Workforce Australia Employment Services, to be made publicly available later in the year.
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