Dob-in jobseeker hotline’s out of line

THERE CAN BE MANY REASONS FOR A JOBSEEKER TO REJECT A JOB OFFER. THE HOTLINE TO THE MINISTER’S DEPARTMENT IS CONSTRUCTED ON THE PREMISE THAT THE EMPLOYER IS RIGHT AND THE JOBSEEKER IS WRONG.

GOOD news. The pandemic is over. Must be. Sure feels like we’re getting back to normal.

Community transmission numbers are low and stable and the Australian Open tennis went off without being a super-spreader event. So that was a positive.

Over the weekend, we were treated to a series of stories about the arrival of the vaccinations. Feel-good packages were all over the media, featuring older Australians, essential workers, frontline health workers and, of course, our Prime Minister with an Australian flag on his face.

Everybody was lining up together to “get the jab” and everybody assured the rest of the country that it is painless. Nothing to worry about. Plenty of smiles and enthusiasm.

But the biggest indicator the pandemic may be limping to a conclusion was the confirmation that economic stimulus packages and supports will be coming to an end by the end of March, and tighter rules and regulations will be introduced for the unemployed.

JobSeeker as we know it is being dismantled. The base rate will now be below the poverty line.

Turns out 2020 was an economic anomaly and the “social health and welfare through economic investment” way of thinking is not normal for a Coalition government.

The conservatives are of the much-stated opinion that “the best form of welfare is a job”.

This is great if there are more jobs than jobseekers, but more often than not, the numbers are swinging the other way around.

For instance, in 2020 there were suddenly not very many jobs at all. Overnight thousands of employers found themselves facing perilous cashflow positions. Thousands of workers were laid off.

The federal government had no choice. Stick with its ideological position that the best form of welfare is a job and let the economy crash and burn, or become Democratic socialists overnight and pump real money into the system.

The Morrison government chose to save the housing market and it basically created a living wage system called JobSeeker. Newstart dissolved and unemployed people were receiving substantially higher than normal versions of financial support.

If the market had been left unattended, people would have lost their houses and the real estate market would have collapsed.

The Coalition cemented JobSeeker, JobMaker and JobKeeper. But this was in the heady days of the pandemic.

It kept the real estate bubble intact, but now the vaccine is in town and the feds want to go back to factory settings.

So, JobSeeker is being reduced to the old-school Newstart levels, plus an extra fifty bucks a fortnight.

There was indication of how the figure had been negotiated but Minister for Families and Social Services, Senator Anne Ruston, justified this figure by saying the system had to be “fair and sustainable”.

The senator claimed on Melbourne radio the government believed there were about five jobseekers for every job available.

So, with those figures in mind, finding a job is still going to be a difficult equation for four out of five jobseekers.

But the most interesting thing about the announcement was the moment when Senator Michaelia Cash spoke up.

“What we will be doing for employers is introducing an employer reporting line. So that if someone does apply for a job, they’re offered the job and they’re qualified for the job but they say no, the employer will now be able to contact my department and report that person as failing to accept suitable employment,” she said.

There can be many reasons for a jobseeker to reject a job offer.

The hotline to the minister’s department is constructed on the premise that the employer is right and the jobseeker is wrong.

But what if the jobseeker felt unsafe in the interview? What if they had been asked inappropriate questions? What if they had discovered post-interview that the employer has a reputation for not paying wages on time or is operating insolvent?

Perhaps there have been a series of sexual assaults reported in that business, and the employer has not been able to explain a comprehensive method for dealing with the reporting of these incidents?

The employment landscape is complex. But this dob in a jobseeker is old-fashioned, punitive, pre-pandemic thinking.