$2m ’facilitator’ fails to halt jobless rise

UNEMPLOYMENT has grown in Geelong despite a multimillion-dollar taxpayerfunded “employment facilitator” hired by the Federal Government.

The Government-funded $2.45 million for the role of Geelong employment facilitator to operate between September 2013 and 2020, a spokesperson for federal Employment Minister Michaelia Cash confirmed.

Despite the multimilliondollar spend, Geelong’s unemployment rate increased by 0.3 per cent between September 2013 and May this year — while the state unemployment rate fell by 1.5 per cent and the national rate fell by 0.6 per cent.

In that time Corio-Norlane has also become the unemployment capital of Australia, with March figures showing 2543 jobless in the “small area” — more than any of Australia’s 2090 “small areas”.

The ABS data also showed more than one in five people in Corio-Norlane were jobless, with an unemployment rate of 21.6 per cent — the worst in Victoria and 18th worst in Australia.

When asked what employment outcomes the employment facilitator had achieved in Geelong, Ms Cash was unable to provide specific results. She instead released a general comment through an unnamed spokesperson.

“Employment facilitators work with retrenched workers and other job seekers to connect them with training, job opportunities and to link them with other existing support,” they said.

“They also co-ordinate support available to job seekers from Australian government, state government and other key stakeholders.

“The Morrison Government strongly believes that the best form of welfare is a job.

“Our focus will always be to get people off welfare and into work and will continue to work with local stakeholders in the region to achieve this aim.”

Corio federal Labor MP Richard Marles welcomed funding for the employment facilitator, but said the Government did not understand the hardships faced by many in Geelong.

“Families in Whittington and the northern suburbs of Geelong are doing it tough and are sick of being neglected by this government,” Mr Marles said.

Give Where You Live chief executive Bill Mithen, who this month described CorioNorlane’s unemployment as “disturbing”, said more needed to be done by the government.

“The (employment facilitator) role has definitely been beneficial to the region,” Mr Mithen said. “But the statistics show that more work needs to be done and there needs to be more effort and greater effort, and in particular I’d say greater efforts for people who are experiencing significant barriers to employment.”