Locals Miss Out On Job Contracts

CTC Employment's office in Youngman Street, Kingaroy

Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss

April 1, 2015

Current job agencies in the South Burnett have been snubbed by the Federal Government’s new $5.1 billion “jobactive” job search scheme – with employers only getting 90 minutes’ notice on Tuesday to break the news to staff that their jobs would be winding up.

About 30-40 jobs are expected to disappear at CTC Employment; with more losses expected at Employment Services Queensland.

CTC operates offices in Kingaroy, Murgon and Gympie; while ESQ has offices in Kingaroy, Cherbourg and Gympie.

The agencies that will be responsible from July 1 to provide job services in the Wide Bay area are:

• Advanced Personnel Management
• Job Futures Ltd
• Max Employment
• Neato Employment Services
• Sarina Russo Job Access
• Tursa Employment and Training
• Mission Providence

These agencies will be responsible for finding work for the unemployed, coordinating Work For The Dole programs, and New Enterprise Incentive Schemes in an area covering the Fraser Coast, Maryborough, Noosaville, Gympie and the North and South Burnett.

Current Job Services Australia contracts with CTC Employment and ESQ will expire on June 30.

The names of the successful contractors were published just 90 minutes after the news was broken to the unsuccessful applicants.

Employees in Kingaroy that southburnett.com.au spoke to after the announcement were stunned by the decision and could not believe that years of local knowledge were being “swept away”.

However, Member for Wide Bay, Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said the successful organisations had been selected through a competitive tender process.

The jobactive program will not only means a shake-up for employment services, job seekers also face a raft of changes.

Under the changes, most job seekers from July 1 will need to:

• Undertake 20 job searches per month, although their jobactive organisation can tailor this requirement to a job seeker’s individual circumstances and local labour market conditions

• Enter into a Job Plan that will outline what they will do to become more job ready and satisfy their mutual obligation requirements

• Complete an Annual Activity Requirement by doing Work for the Dole or another approved activity (such as part-time work, part-time study in an eligible course, participation in accredited language, literacy and numeracy training or voluntary work) for six months each year.

Mr Truss said job seekers would be contacted during the next few months and told which organisation would assist them from July 1.

South Burnett CTC, which has been providing job services in the South Burnett since 1983, bid for the Employment Services and Work For The Dole parts of the jobactive program.

CTC CEO Nina Temperton said Tuesday’s announcement meant the not-for-profit organisation would no longer provide unemployment services in the South Burnett, but it did not mean the end of CTC.

“The rest of the organisation will be going on and will be better than ever,” she said.

And she emphasised that CTC would continue to provide its unemployment services until the new agencies took over on July 1.

“We will not leave anyone unsupported,” she said.

Mr Truss said the jobactive changes were a response to “failings in the current system introduced by Labor which is not meeting the needs of job seekers and employers”.

“Under the Labor Government, employment services became focussed on process and were tied up in red tape,” he said.

“The system became more about putting job seekers through training for its own sake, rather than producing any results of benefit to job seekers and the community.

“The Coalition’s new jobactive system will provide clearer incentives to ensure employment service providers are focused on preparing job seekers to provide the best possible fit with the needs of local employers.”

He said contracts for the job agencies had been increased from three years to five, and larger “more efficient” employment regions had been created.

Footnote: Max Employment was one of the Job Services Australia agencies named in a recent Four Corners investigation into the unemployment industry.

Employment Services Queensland's office in Markwell Street, Kingaroy

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