Insiders – Adjournment Debate – Job network office closures

Insiders – Adjournment Debate – Job network office closures

Sunday 29 June 2003

ANTHONY ALBANESE, MEMBER FOR GRAYNDLER, NSW (ALP):

From July 1 the Government’s closing 53 per cent of job network offices. What this means is that those whose job was to find their fellow Australians a job will find themselves on the other side of the counter. The Government’s agency, Employment National, is shutting up shop completely.

For hundreds of their dedicated employees, they’ll find themselves out the door. But get this, if they find another job this month, they loose their compulsory redundancy payout. What sort of a government is it that provides a financial incentive to people to find themselves on the unemployment queue? The mob that’s closing more job network offices than it’s keeping open is now introducing the world’s first-ever work-to-welfare program.

It’s a national disgrace. I’m Anthony Albanese.