Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

I thank everyone who has contributed to the bill. I especially thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the member for Corio, for his constructive leadership and for working with me, to his enduring credit. This bill modernises and streamlines social security law by reducing duplication and enabling jobseekers who are job-ready the opportunity to self-manage their pathway to work using a digital platform, giving them more flexibility and more choice. It enables a key element of the new employment services model known as Workforce Australia. Workforce Australia aligns with the recommendations from the Employment Services Expert Advisory Panel's report, I want to work, Employment Services 2020, which was the result of extensive consultation with stakeholders.

Current social security law is constraining the government's ability to provide the best service to jobseekers. For example, jobseekers who want to enter study or training into their job plan need to call the Digital Services Contact Centre to talk to a human delegate. It's an unnecessary burden on the hundreds of thousands of jobseekers who are job-ready and who can and should be able to manage their requirements online. Having to contact a government call centre may also deter some jobseekers from accessing activities that are beneficial to them. Once passed, the changes in the bill will give jobseekers the option to enter activities into their plan online without talking to a human delegate, reducing the administrative burden on those seeking work.

It's worth clarifying that the amendments do not mean that employment services or approving plans will be automated or that jobseekers will be forced into a digital-only pathway. Human oversight and assistance will remain an integral part of all employment services. At any time, a jobseeker can contact a person in the digital services contact centre for assistance or opt out of online employment services and agree to their job plan with a delegate at an employment services provider. In addition, it's an overarching principle of the administration of the social security law that services must be delivered fairly.

Jobseekers using online employment services are also covered by extensive existing legislation regarding privacy and the protection of personal information. But, responding to stakeholder concerns, the government has agreed to make amendments to require a digital protections framework be contained in a legislative instrument, providing greater assurance that employment services are indeed administered ethically.

The bill will streamline and reduce the complexity of social security law to better support the transparency and administration of existing mutual obligation policy and ensure the legislation is fit for purpose now and in the future. It'll do this by consolidating repetitive provisions and removing redundant and outdated provisions. Crucially, existing protections in the law will be retained; however, the government has agreed to strengthen these protections by removing amendments to the bill to ensure that jobseekers who are the principal carer of a child or have a partial capacity to work cannot be penalised for refusing work of more than 15 hours per week.

One of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into the bill was that guidance be published on certain aspects of how jobseekers may meet their mutual obligation requirements and information that must be provided to them. While this guidance is largely already public, to provide additional clarity and assurance to stakeholders the government has agreed to move amendments to require a legislative instrument be made, including this guidance. The government has also agreed to move amendments to require arrangements so jobseekers are not disadvantaged by the transition to points-based activation under Workforce Australia. In practice, the amendments will have the effect that, during the transition to Workforce Australia, jobseekers will not face compliance action for failing to meet a points requirement as part of the new points-based activation framework.

The amendment to require completion of a comprehensive review of Workforce Australia within two years of the commencement of the program will ensure that the effectiveness of the new model is thoroughly and transparently examined. The review will include consideration of jobseeker experiences as described by jobseekers themselves. It will also include qualitative and quantitative data and input from employment service providers, key stakeholders such as employers, and social security experts.

Schedule 8 of the bill, as it was introduced, includes amendments supporting the 2021-22 budget measure to align payment commencement for jobseekers referred to online services for those who are referred to a provider. Stakeholders have expressed concern that the current measures under schedule 8 will have adverse impacts on jobseekers. It's important to note that protections within schedule 8 would ensure that jobseekers do not face delays in payment for reasons beyond their control. However, the government does not wish the passage of other important improvements to social security law to be delayed, including changes to support the new model. Accordingly, the government has agreed to move amendments to remove schedule 8 from the bill.

Other changes to the bill include a minor amendment to clarify the existing policy that certain Commonwealth workplace laws do not apply in relation to a person's participation in Commonwealth employment programs; providing more transparent legislative authority for employment programs; enabling quicker implementation when employment programs are modified or new programs introduced; removing the word 'must' from provisions in the targeted compliance framework and instead referring to circumstances in which a person may be subject to compliance action to better reflect the operational policy; ensuring that employment services assistance is not counted as income under social security law; clarifying that the approved program of work delegation is a legislative instrument; clarifying arrangements for youth allowance recipients who are undertaking study as a jobseeker; and tidying up social security law by making other technical amendments and removing redundant provisions.

I again thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for a very constructive engagement between our offices in relation to the bill and associated amendments, and I thank him and the opposition for their support for the revised bill. The bill will significantly modernise and streamline social security law, whilst maintaining existing protections, and provide critical support for the new employment services model. I commend the bill to the House.

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