THE Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services will conduct its final public hearings on Tuesday September 19 and Wednesday September 20 in Canberra. 

The committee will hear directly from individuals with lived experience of employment services and their representatives, as well as from academic and policy experts, peak bodies, and government agencies.

The hearings will focus on the experiences of individuals with lived experience of the system — including older Australians — and their views on options for reform. The committee will also specifically examine Work for the Dole and community and social programs.

Committee Chair, Julian Hill MP, said, “It is absolutely critical that we give voice to the experience of unemployed people. People with lived experiences of the system and those that support and advocate for them have unique insights into what works and what needs to change. The Committee will also hear from specific cohorts of jobseekers — including older Australians — to help ensure that reforms to employment services respond to the needs of an increasingly diverse community.

“The committee continues to hear concerns about what Work for the Dole has become,"Mr Hill said. "It’s nothing like it was when John Howard started it. Mounting evidence suggests that instead of helping people and making them more employable through skills acquisition and meaningful community projects, too often people are forced into demeaning ‘make work’ activities that distract from job searching, stigmatise people and harm their mental health.

"Society must be careful not to make people less employable by making people do pointless activities in unsafe conditions. The committee will engage advocacy bodies, academic experts, providers, and social enterprise as part of its examination of what proper role social and community-based employment programs can play,"he said.

“One day, soon, this inquiry will end and we will table our report near the end of the year. As the inquiry draws to a close, it is important for the committee to re-engage with key peak bodies and research organisations which have provided academic and policy expertise, to consolidate views on key issues and potential options for reform.

“The committee will also examine more technical aspects of the employment services system, including measures to optimise online services and to better utilise data and market insights to improve services for jobseekers, employers, and other stakeholders.”

Further information about the inquiry, including terms of reference, future public hearings, published submissions and hearing transcripts, will be available on the inquiry website.

Public hearing details

19 September 2023

Time:           1.30pm – 5.45pm (Canberra time)
Location:      Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra
Witnesses:    Australian Unemployed Workers Union, Antipoverty Centre, Per Capita, Australian Council of Social Services, WISE Employment, Social Traders Ltd, former Age Discrimination Commissione Dr Kay Patterson AO, COTA Australia.

20 September 2023

Time: 8.30am – 4.15pm (Canberra time)
Location: Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra
Witnesses: Brotherhood of St Laurence, Centre for Policy Development, University of Melbourne, Victorian Government, National Employment Services Association, Jobs Australia, Employment services participants, Australian Taxation Office, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Jobs and Skills Australia.

A live audio broadcast of the hearing will be available via the Parliament’s Watch, Read, Listen website.

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THE Defence Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade has completed its examination on the Department of Defence Annual Report 2021–22.

The examination focused on themes of Defence workforce recruiting and retention, Defence support to domestic crises, Space Command and capability and other issues as communicated to Defence.

Defence Subcommittee Chair, Julian Hill MP, said the committee had found the “near-persistent” requirement for Defence to respond to domestic crises was unsustainable and had created concurrency pressures that would soon degrade the Australian Defence Force (ADF)’s warfighting capabilities.

“Over 50 percent of Defence members have been assigned to domestic disaster relief tasks in recent years," Mr Hill said.

“The climate is changing, and State and Territory Governments need to lift their collective game in building resilience and resourcing natural disaster responses.

“The ADF cannot continue to be seen as some sort of ‘shadow workforce’, especially in circumstances where certain States or Territories have not adequately resourced and increased their own capabilities, and community resilience and responses.”

Concerns were also raised regarding Defence’s response to date to the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Afghanistan Inquiry (IGADFAI), particularly around difficulties and delays in accessing and making redress to Afghan victims and their families. The committee has recommended improvements to how Defence addresses these issues.

More broadly, regarding the long shadow of Afghanistan on the Special Air Services Regiment, Mr Hill said it was “time to draw a line in the sand and rebalance our national conversation about this period. The events of concern occurred well over a decade ago, yet public discourse and some media reporting in relation to these events has implicitly and wrongly conflated the past and the present.

“The rightful acceptance of institutional and collective responsibility for cultural failings, and the process of holding individuals to account, must not be allowed to tar the reputations of the majority of those who served then and who serve today," Mr Hill said.

“As a society, Australia risks repeating another Vietnam and callously increasing Veteran suicide if we lose perspective and balance in how these matters are reported and discussed.”

Defence’s continued underperformance in meeting recruitment and retention targets also concerned the committee, with personnel 5.6 percent below guidance from the last financial year. In 2023, 42 workforce categories and occupations were classified as critical by Defence, an increase of 18 from 2022.

“While acknowledging Defence is taking this seriously and that it is difficult to address in the current strong labour market, the slide in the ADF’s numbers and growth in critical skills shortage areas must not continue,” Mr Hill said.

“If more needs to be done, then more must be done as skilled people are the ADF’s most important fundamental input to capability.”

The committee visited several bases during its investigation, noting critical infrastructure upgrades at remote airbases and bare bases had been neglected. Committee members were particularly disturbed at the state of disrepair while visiting the pier supporting diesel refuelling of the Harold E Holt Naval Communication Station.

“The old adage ‘prevention is better than cure’ seems to have been ignored, and urgent action is required within the next few months as this is a critical capability for Australia and the United States,” Mr Hill said.

Australia’s Space Command and capability in relation to warfighting domains was also examined, with the committee making several recommendations regarding how Australia could best position itself as technology and competition continues to rapidly evolve.

Further information in relation to the inquiry and a full list of its recommendations is available from the JSCFADT’s website.

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THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics will be rounding out its inquiry into promoting economic dynamism, competition and business formation with its next public hearing today from 8am. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), National Competition Council (NCC), Treasury and the Productivity Commission will be appearing.

Committee Chair Daniel Mulino MP said the public hearing would allow the committee to test ideas with experts from the ACCC, NCC, Treasury and the Productivity Commission.

“The committee has heard a range of ideas and recommendations about how to boost healthy competition and productivity throughout this inquiry," Dr Mulino said. "The ACCC, NCC, Treasury and the Productivity Commission are key players in this area, so the committee will benefit from hearing their perspectives and testing ideas with them.”

The committee will also hear from Meta, which will complete the Committee’s engagement with big tech. The committee has previously heard from Apple, Google and Amazon.

More details about the inquiry, including the full terms of reference, are available on the committee’s website.

Public hearing details

Date: Friday, 15 September 2023
Time: 8am – 5pm
Location: Videoconference

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

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THE Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) will hold the first public hearing for its review of the Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 this morning..

The committee will hear from government representatives, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and academic William Stoltz, to discuss the Bill’s proposed expansion of intelligence oversight arrangements for the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

The committee’s website has a full program for the hearing, and the hearing will be (audio) broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

PJCIS Chair Peter Khalil MP said, “The committee looks forward to hearing evidence from witnesses to inform its consideration of the Bill. The committee is interested in understanding how the proposed provisions of the Bill will enhance oversight and provide assurance to Australians about the effective operation of the National Intelligence Community.”

On June 22, 2023 the Attorney-General wrote to the committee to refer the Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 for the committee’s review.

The Bill would amend the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1986 and the Intelligence Services Act 2001, mainly to expand the oversight of the IGIS and the PJCIS to include all of the agencies that comprise Australia’s National Intelligence Community.

The Bill would also amend and update various provisions relating to the functions and operation of the PJCIS.

Further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the committee’s website.

Public hearing

15 September 2023
9am – 1.30pm AEST
Committee Room 1S3, Parliament House, Canberra; and via videoconference

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