Training Fraud

Job Services Australia

Job Services Australia (formerly known as the Job Network) is an Australian Government-funded network of organisations (private and community, and originally also government) that is contracted by the Australian Government, through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), to deliver employment services to unemployed job seekers on Government income support payments and employers.

ABC Four Corners are internationally renowned investigative documentary makers. Please see the documentary below. 

The documentary below explains that the $18, Billion Australian Job Market has been subject to a massive amount of fraud by commercial and not-for-profit providers, gaming the system.

Fraud by training contractors has been widespread and both the training arm of the Salvation Army, the Salvation Army Plus and the Catholic Church have been caught claiming payments not due to them, according to the documentary. 

At the time this documentary was made Jobseekers number 780,000 are chasing about 150,000 jobs. As in the UK in Australia there are simply not enough jobs.

Breeching is the Australian equivalent of UK Sanctions. Australian Claimants are sanctioned frequently, for no good cause at all say jobseekers.

Organisations representing Jobseekers are resisting the Government’s proposal to introduce a six-month waiting period for many Newstart and Youth Allowance recipients under 30 years of age. Considering that the Department of Social Services has set aside $229 million in ‘Emergency Relief’ to assist job seekers under 30 with money for food and shelter should the legislation pass, it must be obvious that this measure will cause much distress.

In the 2014 Budget, the government announced the following funding cuts to the Welfare State:

- $3.3 billion cut from Pensioners

- $6.2 billion cut from the Disabled and Sick

- $1.7 billion cut from the Unemployed

- $3.4 billion cut from Tertiary Students

New legislation is coming in that will require:

• Newstart recipients who fail to attend their ‘Job Search’ appointment to stronger penalties which will result in a portion of their Newstart payment permanently withheld unless a ‘reasonable excuse’ is provided;
• ‘Job ready’ Newstart recipients to Work for the Dole after only 6 months of receiving Newstart benefits (formerly 1 year);
• Increase Work for the Dole requirements to 25 hours per week (formerly 15 hours) for those aged under 30; and finally
• Require around 37,000 mostly Indigenous job seekers in remote areas aged 18-49 to undertake Work for the Dole activities for 25 hours.

If it all sound horribly familiar, don't be suprised.