The Morrison government’s crackdown on unemployed Australians it says are not willing to work has backfired after data revealed only a fraction of the population not working were doing the wrong thing, according to the union.
About seven weeks after the government launched its employer reporting line, dubbed the “DobSeeker”, more than 300 individuals across the country have been referred by businesses who insist applicants are not meeting their responsibility to get into work seriously.
But only eight of those have faced some kind of penalty, which the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union views as vindication that about 1.3 million people in employment services are legitimately struggling to find work.
“This ‘DobSeeker’ line is just another tool being used by the government to bludgeon poor people and to create the public perception that people on income support payments are doing the wrong thing when the evidence doesn’t back it up,” union spokeswoman Kristin O’Connell told NCA NewsWire.
“We think the (hot)line is unnecessary, we think the government knows the line is unnecessary and that they are using it as a PR exercise to justify the fact they’ve just thrown millions of people into deep poverty with payment cuts.”
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The complaints made to the federal government’s hotline accuse applicants of submitting inappropriate applications, failing to attend job interviews and unnecessarily leaving suitable employment.
The crackdown is aimed at transitioning Australians off welfare support schemes as the economy recovers from the pandemic-induced recession.
Employment Minister Stuart Robert said “disappointment is an understatement”, blaming an unwilling workforce for Australian companies struggling to return to business as unusual.
“At the end of the day, Australians expect everyone who can work to get into work, and some of the stories coming out of the employer reporting line are frankly unacceptable,” he said.
“We’ve got reports from restaurants in Sydney that they’ve received numerous inappropriate job applications and had several applicants refuse to attend job interviews. We’ve also got reports of a vet in Victoria that has had over a dozen individuals falsely answer yes to ‘Are you a registered Veterinarian in Australia?’ wasting time which is so precious for small business owners.
“The message to businesses out there is simple – if you’re getting mucked around call the employer reporting line.”
But Ms O’Connell said the data outlined in a senate estimates hearing on Thursday revealed the more than 300 reports made about employees came from about 100 employers, suggesting the bulk of the complaints came from a small number of businesses.
“You can tell that there's a small group using this quite a lot and that most employers wouldn’t want to be forcing anyone into a job they don’t want to do because that doesn’t make a lot of sense,” she said.
“This is a perfect tool for dodgy employers and dodgy job agencies to work together to bully unemployed people to force them into jobs that aren't suitable for them.”
In April, Mr Robert said the purpose of the “DobSeeker” hotline – where employers can dob in applicants who turn down a role – was to make sure unemployed Australians fulfilled their responsibility to their community.
“One of the reasons for the national employer reporting line is to say to Australians you have a responsibility, you just can’t sit on the JobSeeker payment and expect your neighbours to cover that lifestyle,” he said.
“We want you into work, we want give you every opportunity to train and re-skill and we want you to turn up.
“The whole point of the national reporting line is to ensure that mutual obligations, which is people’s responsibility back to their community, to their neighbours, are fulfilled.”
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