The long-awaited Parliamentary Select Committee Report on the operation of the Workforce Australia Employment Services System has been released and its verdict is highly critical of the current system. The report is over 500 pages long and has 75 recommendations urging “wholesale, large-scale reform to fundamentally rebuild Australia’s employment services system” over the next few years. The report also concludes “that full marketisation [of the employment services system] has failed”.  

The implications of these observations are clear. The report states the system fails to adequately assist a significant number of jobseekers, alienates employers, is incapable of assessing and responding to labour market conditions, and is a major financial drain on taxpayers. It produces poor results for those required to use it.