Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—The government believes that Job Services Australia is the right employment service model for these difficult economic times. Whether a job seeker is recently retrenched or is highly disadvantaged and long-term unemployed, the new services are designed to provide personalised assistance, better links to training and greater opportunities for relevant work experience. Improving the skills of job seekers will ensure our economy remains competitive beyond the economic downturn.

It was critically important to replace the out-of-date, flawed Job Network. The people who deliver Job Network told us it was bogged down in red tape and unable to assist out-of-work Australians—and so, too, did employers and job seeker advocates. These same jobs organisations helped the Rudd government design Job Services Australia. The government undertook an unprecedented consultation process to design Job Services Australia, and I remind those who are in the chamber that the government consulted industry on the exposure draft of the tender, including the tender criteria. We understand that providers who have not tendered successfully are disappointed. Because of this, we think this is nothing more than a political stunt. Some of those who are initiating this inquiry have been repeatedly offered briefings on the tender outcomes but they have not taken up such an offer, which does suggest a lack of any real interest in this process.

The employment services tender is a process which has been signed off by an independent probity auditor as representing a high benchmark of the conduct of Commonwealth procurement. The government has already established an industry reference group to provide the government with advice about the conduct of future purchasing processes. Job Network providers are providing help to the unemployed as best they can under this scheme and Job Services Australia providers are ramping up for the start of the new services from 1 July.

Question agreed to.