Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Job Seeker Compliance) Bill 2011. In doing so, I would like to put on record my strong support for all initiatives that help people move from welfare to work. In my previous life before entering parliament, I worked with job seekers, both those that were in receipt of disability support pension and those that were disadvantaged and long-term unemployed, so I know that there are a number of issues that impact on their ability to move from welfare to work. I am pleased that this legislation was referred to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment and I support the recommendations of the committee.

It is imperative that legislation and information that is given to job seekers be in plain English. It is important that the people who are involved in implementing this legislation develop and follow consistent guidelines and that there is training material that accompanies the bill. It is also important that Centrelink and employment services staff are provided with comprehensive training, as is the committee's recommendation. It is also important that employment providers be given clear and comprehensive guidelines in relation to this legislation. It is interesting that the committee recommends that the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and the Department of Human Services collect and publish data on the reasons why job seekers miss appointments without reasonable excuses. The committee also recommends that the department undertake a review of the impact of these proposed changes and that employment service providers be advised to utilise all re-engagement mechanisms available to them in relation to vulnerable job seekers.

The committee recommends that additional training and resources be provided to Centrelink staff. That is probably a very good point for me to come in on. Since this bill was introduced into the parliament I have spent quite a bit of time liaising with officers who work in the Centrelink offices in my electorate. They have expressed some concern to me about this legislation and the impact it will have on their workload and on a certain subset of job seekers. I am sure that those issues that have been raised by Centrelink staff, people who work each and every day with the long-term unemployed and people who are failing to attend appointments, will be looked at during the review.

I should also put on the record that I have been speaking with a number of job service providers within my electorate. We are working on a very innovative program in a very disadvantaged area of my electorate, probably the most disadvantaged area in the whole of Australia, on a number of issues that are preventing people from returning to work. The majority of the population in that area are on some sort of Centrelink payment. We are working together to try to develop an innovative approach with job seeker providers across state and federal and even local government lines to see whether we can come up with an approach that will help people.

I do have a little concern that perhaps some people will have their payments suspended for a variety of reasons. People can have their payments cancelled because of circumstances beyond their control. We all know that getting payments reinstated can be a rather cumbersome process. I am sure that the Minister for Employment Participation and Childcare will be looking at this issue very carefully in the review. I think changes such as this that are designed to increase people's participation in work are vitally important because if people do not go along to their appointments with Job Network providers then they will find it very difficult to move from welfare to work. We just have to be very mindful that, with legislation such as this, we are not actually going to put in place barriers that will achieve a perverse outcome, the opposite outcome to the one we are seeking to achieve. For some people it will facilitate their meeting those appointments, but others may be faced with the situation where they get a call to go to work late in the day and they have to decide, 'Do I turn down paid work because I can't contact the Centrelink office before I go to work or during that time, or do I go to work and then miss the appointment and have to go through the process of having Centrelink payments reinstated?' which they would have to go through because it is a valid excuse.

Maybe there will need to be some finetuning of this legislation further down the track. I support initiatives that will assist people to move from welfare to work. It is vitally important. We have a skills shortage. I welcome a number of the initiatives in the budget that are designed to assist the long-term unemployed to move from welfare to work. I think the wage subsidy schemes that are included in the budget will assist the long-term unemployed and will redress some of the disadvantage they have when they are competing for jobs within the workforce. I have worked with job subsidy schemes in the past and I know they work. I know that people can be employed under a job subsidy scheme and then end up in a long-term job. Nothing gives a person more dignity than being able to work. But I do think that we have to monitor this legislation very closely to ensure that the people whom we are seeking to assist by encouraging them to attend appointments are not disadvantaged. I have every confidence that the minister will ensure that the department does this and that the legislation will work to benefit those people who are unemployed rather than disadvantage them.

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