Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment Participation, Senator Arbib. Can the minister confirmed that his department set an email to jobs service providers to confirm delays in providing adjustment funds because the Agency Adjustment Fund was seriously oversubscribed.?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the good senator for that question and I are happy to seek out that information and give him a response. I am also happy to speak in terms of the Agency Adjustment Fund, because this is something that has been put in place to improve the system and also to benefit those community organisations in particular that missed out on work in terms of the tendering process. In terms of Job Services Australia, and I am very happy to talk about this all day, we are proud of the reforms we are putting in place. Yesterday I talked about the seven programs that used to be there under the old Job Network. If you were a jobseeker, you would have to walk through seven doors to actually get service. How does that work for jobseekers?

People from the industry talk about the old conveyor belt system where you got training for training’s sake, not training to get you onto a pathway for a job. When the government came into office we looked at the Job Network and we consulted with the sector. The one thing that everybody in the sector said—the community groups, the providers, the government and the department—was that the system was not working and that the people who needed the assistance were not getting it. That is what the reforms to Job Services Australia are about. We are going from seven programs to one. We have put an extra $1 billion into the network. On top of that, the system will be focused on disadvantaged workers—the long-term unemployed. That is what this government are about. We have a plan to deal with unemployment. We have a plan to stimulate the economy. On the other side of the chamber there is no plan. The member for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull, has spent 275 days as Leader of the Opposition but has no jobs plan. (Time expired)

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question—and I can only assume that Senator Arbib is confirming delays in providing adjustment funds. Is it a fact that the Agency Adjustment Fund was only introduced after widespread criticism of the employment services tender from, among others, former Job Network providers such as Catholic Social Services, Jobs Australia, the Australian Council of Social Service and other employment services providers?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot believe that Senator Ferguson is being critical of us putting in place a fund like this to assist community organisations that have missed out on contracts. I want to remind the good senator that the network and tendering structure was based on your government’s system. Your government introduced the tendering system. We are improving it to help the long-term unemployed. You may not have been thinking about that for the 12 years you were in government, but we are thinking about it. That is what the government is about: a real jobs plan. You can add to that the Jobs Fund. I want to thank Senator Fielding, Senator Xenophon and the Greens senators for their work in establishing the Jobs Fund. It is going to mean real work, not the old conveyor belt to the past of your—(Time expired)

Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Minister, is the Agency Adjustment Fund just a $3.5 million bandaid for a $4.9 billion bungle?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you ever wanted to know the difference between this side of the chamber and the other side of the chamber, you have just heard it. There is $3.5 million going out to community organisations, and you call it a bandaid. You have got to be kidding me! This is about supporting those organisations through a difficult period—local community organisations, many of whom have missed out on contracts under the new system. We are trying to assist them. And it is not just that; many of these organisations have applied for funding from the Jobs Fund. The opposition opposes the Jobs Fund. For them, there was no need for a Jobs Fund. It was left to Labor and the crossbench to get that fund up. What this is going to mean is real jobs on the ground. On top of that, Senator Ferguson, I refer you to the Innovation Fund. This will provide new ways of finding a pathway to employment—not training for training’s sake, not work for the dole, but real training and real jobs. (Time expired)