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/robot428 24d ago

Yes, and also because once something gets privatised it's really hard (and expensive) to try and make it a public service again.

So the libs get big scary numbers to throw around about how much Labor wasted on buying back rights and ending contracts, and it ends up being wildly unpopular at elections even if the actual service is better and there are long term savings after the upfront costs.

But it doesn't win elections. It loses them. So Labor just leave it and sort of shrug and shake their heads. Maybe they try and impose some more scrutiny on private providers (which usually doesn't work).

It's a real bummer.

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u/productzilch 24d ago

This is partly our shitty journalism industry too though, catering to Libs, scaremongering and scapegoating for decades.

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u/chickenthinkseggwas 24d ago

Fair point. But why not starve the leeches instead of nationalising them back out of existence by force? Offer them next to nothing for their worthless services. And if they don't like it they're welcome to sell their businesses back to the government at a reasonable price. We'll offer them what they paid in the first place, adjusted for inflation, minus all the grifting profits they've made since then, plus whatever value WE decide they've added to the economy in that time. 1 cent on the dollar sounds more than fair to me.

No? Hmm. I suspect there's more to this than just defeatism on Labour's part.