ABC Transcript,
Australia — AM - Friday, 10 December , 2004
08:04:00
TONY EASTLEY As the Howard
Government pushes to get more people off welfare and into
work, managers in the Government's welfare agency,
Centrelink, have been told to adopt new ways of dealing
with customers.
They're being told to direct as
many people as they can to the Government's privatised
Job Network, even if the customers are not legally
required to go there.
A memo leaked to AM shows
Centrelink staff are being told to adopt strategies which
include not volunteering information to customers. The
instruction has been described as "devious" by some
critics in the welfare sector.
Alexandra Kirk reports from
Canberra.
ALEXANDRA KIRK Centrelink,
the welfare delivery agency, is urging staff to shift
from the mindset of getting customers paid the right
amount at the right time to thinking more about getting
people back into work.
A leaked Centrelink memo says
''it's now time to move to the next phase", from advising
customers about volunteer work and support programs to
"economic participation for all, with few exceptions".
MEMO EXCERPT (voiceover) The
reasons behind this new focus is Australia's rapidly
ageing population. Australia will simply not have the
welfare dollars to support people in the very near
future, hence we have to get people into the workforce,
people who are not currently required to be actively
seeking work, i.e. disability support pensions, parent
payment, customers with children under 13 years of age
now need to be strongly encouraged to take
part.
ALEXANDRA KIRK A recent
Productivity Commission report and Treasury's
intergenerational report both warn of the economic
challenges posed by Australia's rapidly ageing
population, including rising health costs, but neither
suggests Australia couldn't afford to pay its welfare
bill.
The Centrelink document comes from
one of its main offices, prepared after a senior
bureaucrat briefed all area managers about workforce
participation.
The memo says the new agenda is to
target single parents and disability support pensioners,
with a checklist of how to get more people to privatised
employment agencies or job network members, referred to
as JNMs.
MEMO EXCERPT (Voiceover) The
focus now needs to be not why someone should go to a JNM
and pursue employment, but why not. Don't come up with
reasons why someone can't go, and avoid letting customers
come up with reasons why they can't go.
For parenting customers with
children under 13 years, and disability support
customers, there's no requirement that they go, so if
asked, you'll need to answer the question correctly, but
avoid having it as part of your spiel.
ALEXANDRA KIRK That's
angered the welfare sector, with some labelling the
instruction "devious" because it fails to tell people
that attending the Job Network is voluntary. And AM's
been told Centrelink staff, too, are worried.
The message to Centrelink managers,
in bold type, is:
MEMO EXCERPT (voiceover)
Remember every working age customer at every opportunity.
The Secretary wants a significant increase in JNM
referrals by the 24th of September. It's up to us to make
it happen.
ALEXANDRA KIRK AM's been
told Centrelink area managers have been asked to sign an
undertaking about the speed at which they can refer more
sole parents and disability pensioners to the job
network.
The Government says there is no
quota, while Job Network members have told the Department
of Employment not to move so quickly because they're not
ready to deal with a big influx of jobseekers.
TONY EASTLEY Alexandra Kirk.
AM - Peter Dutton says work first, welfare second
TONY EASTLEY The Minister
for Workforce Participation, Peter Dutton, says the
Government's focus is work first, welfare second - and
that applies to the government agency,
Centrelink.
PETER DUTTON Well, the
Government's very much about trying to provide people
with a work first philosophy, welfare second, and if
people have a capacity to work then we think it's a great
outcome, not just for them but their families and the
community in general, that they're able to find those
work outcomes.
ALEXANDRA KIRK So, was this
instruction to Centrelink staff done at your or any other
Minister's behest?
PETER DUTTON No, I'm
responsible for my department, and Centrelink doesn't
fall under that, but I'm very keen to try and increase
referrals from Centrelink across to the Job Network, for
those people who are able to work, and if we can do that
then it's a good outcome for everybody that's involved.
ALEXANDRA KIRK Now, the
document says when it comes to single parents and
disability support pensioners, that they're not required
to go to the Job Network and pursue employment. So, if
asked - that's what the document says - the Centrelink
officer will need to answer the question correctly, but
avoid having it as part of their spiel. Isn't that
dishonest?
PETER DUTTON Well, I've just
seen the document for the first time now. I think what
they're heading towards is saying to people if you are
able to work and you're in a position where you want to
work, the Job Network member system has been a great
success, it's put hundreds of thousands of Australians
back into work and has been very successful over the term
of this Government, and hence the fact that we've got the
low unemployment rate now of 5.2 per cent, and if you
want to look for work it's a great system to become
involved in.
ALEXANDRA KIRK But at the
same time shouldn't the Centrelink staff. the other side
of the coin, which is that they're not required to go the
Job Network if they don't want to?
PETER DUTTON Well, I think
Centrelink make it very clear to their clients that they
have rights and responsibilities, and they outline to
them what their responsibilities are.
ALEXANDRA KIRK But the memo
says that, you know, the staff should avoid having that
as part of their spiel.
PETER DUTTON And in
circumstances they provide details of the entitlements
and what their obligations might be, and so the
direction.
ALEXANDRA KIRK In what
circumstances?
PETER DUTTON Well, the
direction, as I understand on my quick reading of the
document now, is that the Centrelink officers are saying
that there is a very successful job network out there
operating in the country, and if you are able to work and
you're interested in working, then wouldn't that be a
great outcome for you and your family?
ALEXANDRA KIRK So, you
endorse the approach being taken?
PETER DUTTON Well, any
approach that says to people that if you are able to work
and you want to work and it's a good thing to get back
into work, then I endorse.
ALEXANDRA KIRK Is this the
sort of coercion that you referred to a couple of weeks
ago, to get more people with disabilities off welfare and
back into work?
PETER DUTTON Well, the point
that I was making a couple of weeks ago, and that I'd
make again today, is that those people who don't have any
work capacity, that have a profound disability, will
always enjoy the support of the Government, and so we
seek to quarantine those people, to provide them with
every support that they require.
For those people who have a
disability but still a work capacity, we think that if
those people are able to find work then it's a better
outcome, not just for them but for their families, it
puts them in a better financial position, it lifts their
self-esteem, and if we're able to offer that option to
people then I think that's a great outcome.
TONY EASTLEY The Minister
for Workforce Participation, Peter Dutton, speaking to
Alexandra Kirk.
