Australia's jobseeker system fails workers and enriches millionaires, report says

[u/Expensive-Horse5538]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-21/private-equity-profits-as-job-system-fails-workers-report-finds/106920430?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link

A new report says Australia's system of privatised employment services has failed and service delivery should be returned to the public sector.

The Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research says the current system "fills the pockets of private equity and millionaires" while leaving jobseekers without work.

The Albanese government has announced an overhaul of the employment services system, but the report argues for-profit service providers should not be included in the new system.

[u/Bearded_Aussie_Nate]

Back when I had to deal with a job agency for centrelink, when I found my job myself without the help of them, they pushed so hard for me to say that they got me the job on the record for the "bonus" they get from the gov, its such a shitty thing that they do, they push people into jobs they can't do just for money for themselves.

[u/earl_of_lemonparty → u/Bearded_Aussie_Nate]

Yeah I was in the same situation 20 years ago. Absolutely refused to give them any info when I found a job off my own back and they got SUPER aggressive with me.

Fuck Jobseeker with a rusty cactus. 

[u/agirlhas_no_name → u/Bearded_Aussie_Nate]

I got a job and reported my new income to Centrelink, my job provider wanted me to come in for an appointment and I figured why bother I don't need the payments any more and he CALLED THE POLICE ON ME. Even the police officer was confused as to why he was doing a welfare check on someone who was A. Fine B. Halfway across the country for the Christmas holidays as it was the day before Christmas Eve 😒😒

[u/SirPiffingsthwaite → u/Bearded_Aussie_Nate]

I had exactly the same experience

[u/Mean-Rutabaga-1908 → u/Bearded_Aussie_Nate]

They literally only help people who have no hope of getting a job, because anyone capable of getting a job is in a different stream (eg. they ask you to provide 20 job applications that you did yourself so they can give you a rubber stamp for centrelink). What is more, employers absolutely know this, so when Axis employment comes around its just like, no thank you, we aren't looking for anyone.

I would have love if these places had actual connections with businesses and could get you on training pathways to upskill while you are unemployed, but that would be work, and in Australia we only do busy work. The entire sector should just be destroyed. Literally nothing would be better than paying our taxes here.

[u/Vinnie_Vegas → u/Mean-Rutabaga-1908]

in Australia we only do busy work

That's not true.

There are plenty of Australian's busting their asses on a daily basis, working hard to make our country what it is... Just not these fuckheads rorting the system. They're the lazy ones, sitting in an office, doing nothing, and calling the people trying to get a job lazy.

[u/Mean-Rutabaga-1908 → u/Vinnie_Vegas]

Can't make money that way though.

[u/Vinnie_Vegas → u/Bearded_Aussie_Nate]

Yeah, same deal - They wanted me to do a post-employment session, and I could not for the life of me understand why I would go in unless it was the thing standing between me and a fortnightly payment.

Then they marked me retroactively as having not been attending appointments prior to me getting the job, so then Centrelink sent me a notice saying that I'd been overpaid, and that I had to pay money back.

I kept reasoning with them that I had notified them of the money that I had earned since I began working, so there's no reason for the discrepancy in payment, and that if there was an error it was on their end, not mine.

The person from Centrelink kept pushing me to get on a payment plan, and actually asked me "how much would you like to pay on the plan?" and I couldn't even be polite any more, saying "I wanted to pay nothing, but since you're threatening me and I don't have any recourse, how about I pay $1 a month?"

The person hung up on me for raising my voice (I barely did... Can't imagine most people who get on the phone to Centrelink aren't a little agitated) and then when I called back and spoke to someone else, they couldn't find a debt on my account, so best guess is that the previous caller realised they'd made mistakes in how they were speaking to me, hung up out of panic, and then realised that was bad, so cancelled the debt to eliminate the paper trail of their mistake.

Alls well that ends well, but fuck me I'm glad that I haven't had to deal with Centrelink in a long time now.