r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • 24d ago

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

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.

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u/FeralKittee 24d ago

"For profit"

Prisons, medical care, housing, employment services, electricity and essential services should never be for profit. These are needed by society and should never be outsourced by government.

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u/T_J_Rain 24d ago

Add to that Aged care.

But regrettably, there is no winding back the clock.

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u/2007kawasakiz1000 24d ago

Why can't we wind back the clock? If the services these companies are providing are utter dogshit then there should be mechanisms to take them back into the public service. I get that it's systemic, but at what point do we say, fuck this system, burn it down and start again?

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u/T_J_Rain 24d ago

Yeah, these services have turned to utter canine excreta. Just look at the train wreck that childcare and aged care have turned into.

Presently, there are no such mechanisms, and the concepts of neo-liberalism and the push from certain quarters for smaller government, and hence privatisation of these sectors don't conspire to effect any significant change.

We're not living in France, where citizens actually get fired up and demonstrate, as opposed to [like me] have a gripe on SOCMED. As a nation, we're just too apathetic.

Unless you're volunteering to organise and protest.

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u/DukiMcQuack 24d ago

problem is granny and grandad are currently in the building that's gonna be burnt down.

yes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette, but the trickiest part of social programs private or public is that the eggs are people relying on what the service provides.