CAMPBELL Page, MAX Employment, Mission Providence, MBC Employment Services, and South East Training Services will deliver employment services in the Eurobodalla following a shake-up of the industry.
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The federal government last week announced it was introducing a a new employment services model from July 1, known as jobactive.
The Bay Post/Moruya Examiner understands at least one organisation, Wesley Mission, lost its contract to deliver the service in the Eurobodalla, meaning job assistance staff could themselves find themselves in the unemployment line come July 1.
Eden-Monaro MP Peter Hendy said the five organisations were selected through a competitive tender process to deliver one or more employment services, including employment providers, Work for the Dole coordinators and National Enterprise Incentive Schemes.
He said there had been strong interest in the government’s tender and organisations were assessed in terms of their capacity to meet the needs of local job seekers, their past performance and their organisational and management arrangements.
“The tender was conducted by the Department of Employment in accordance with the government’s procurement rules and signed off by an external probity adviser,” he said.
Dr Hendy said that the current Job Services Australia system introduced by Labor was no longer meeting the needs of job seekers and employers.
“Under Labor, employment services were allowed to focus on process rather than results, to churn job seekers through training for training’s sake and employment services had become bogged down in red tape,” he said.
“The Coalition’s new jobactive system will provide clearer incentives to ensure employment service providers are focused on better preparing job seekers to meet the needs of local employers and helping people to find and keep a job.”
The new model includes wage subsidies for young job seekers, Indigenous job seekers, the long term unemployed, the Restart subsidy for older workers as well as Relocation Assistance to help people move to take up a job.
“There is also the Job Commitment Bonus to encourage young job seekers to stay in work and off welfare,” Dr Hendy said.
“Work for the Dole will be rolled out nationally to help job seekers to learn new skills and remain active and engaged while looking for work.
“There will be new Work for the Dole coordinators working with local community organisations to identify activities and places.”
The Government has also made changes to assist employment providers to deliver services on the ground, including less red tape, the introduction of five-year contracts instead of three, a mid-contract price adjustment, larger employment regions to promote economies of scale, and an additional loading to support service delivery in regional Australia.
In coming months, local job seekers will receive advice on which organisation will assist them with looking for work after July 1, 2015. In the meantime, job seekers should continue to work with their existing Jobs Services Australia provider.
