Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Government Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank all senators for their contributions on this bill this evening. This bill modernises and streamlines social security law by reducing duplication and enabling jobseekers who are job ready the opportunity to self-manage their pathways to work using a digital platform, giving them more flexibility and choice. The bill enables a key element of the new employment services model known as Workforce Australia. Workforce Australia aligns with recommendations made by the Employment Services Expert Advisory Panel report, I want to work: employment services 2020, which was the result of extensive stakeholder consultation.

Current social security law is constraining the government's ability to provide the best possible 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. This is an unnecessary burden on the hundreds of thousands of jobseekers who are job ready and who can and should be allowed to manage their own requirements online.

It is also worth clarifying that the amendments do not mean that employment services or approving job plans will in fact be automated or that jobseekers are 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 services and agree their job plan with a human delegate at an employment service provider. However, responding to stakeholder concerns, the government has agreed to make amendments to require that a digital protection framework be contained in the legislative instrument, providing greater assurance to stakeholders that employment services are administered ethically.

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 the social security law to be delayed, including changes to support the new model. Accordingly, the government had agreed to move amendments to remove schedule 8 from the bill.

This bill will significantly modernise and streamline social security law while maintaining existing protections and providing crucial support for the new employment services model. For all these reasons, I commend this bill to the chamber.