New revelations have exposed the continued abuse of vulnerable Australians by privatised employment services under Workforce Australia. Documents obtained under Freedom of Information by the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union confirm that several providers are threatening job-seekers with payment suspensions to coerce them into handing over payslips. This is a clear breach of the guidelines, but the government has failed to hold these providers to account. The question continues: what is the point of a Labor Government?
The abuse of power
The AUWU’s persistent campaigning has uncovered four providers, including Australia’s largest, APM, have been identified by the Department of Employment for using prohibited tactics to force participants to provide payslips. These payslips enable providers to claim massive outcome payments from the government, even when they had no role in securing the job. Despite this, the department initially denied it was aware of any breaches during Senate Estimates in June 2024. But the FOI documents tell a different story – one in which the government is not only aware of these practices, but also has been privately instructing providers to cease their misconduct.
What makes this situation worse is that complaints from victims of these practices are being buried. When a participant reports harassment, the department simply refers them back to the very provider responsible, marking the case as “solved”. This systemic failure shows a government not just asleep at the wheel, but actively enabling a culture of abuse.
A government that won’t act
These revelations demand a harsh reckoning, not just for the providers, but for the Albanese Government itself. While the opposition might rightly be criticised for its harsh stance on welfare, Labor’s refusal to act on clear breaches of the Workforce Australia guidelines shows equal contempt for those it claims to represent. The poorest Australians are being bullied by corporations that exist to extract profit from the welfare system.
As other commentators have pointed out, the electorate is gearing up to give this government an almighty whack at the next election – and the biggest blow will come from the poorest Australians, those who have been treated with utter contempt. Whenever Anthony Albanese brings out his log cabin story, it is enough to send most unemployed people I know into apoplexy.
The scandal of payslip harassment
Approximately 20% of people in receipt of Jobseeker payments are working, but because their income falls below the threshold needed to survive without support, they remain linked to the welfare system, placing them under the same obligations as those who are unemployed. Employment service providers use this connection to exert power over both the unemployed and the working poor, harassing them for payslips and threatening payment suspensions. As a result, even those who find work are trapped in a system that exploits their vulnerability, reinforcing the providers’ control over their financial well-being.
The crux of this scandal is that privatised employment services, operating under the government’s supposed “mutual obligations” framework, are forcing job seekers to hand over their personal employment information. Providers are incentivised to harass participants, because every payslip represents more profit. These providers aren’t helping job-seekers; they’re exploiting them, and they do so knowing they will face no meaningful consequences.
In one FOI’d document, the department acknowledged receiving numerous complaints about providers using the Targeted Compliance Framework to bully participants into handing over payslips. Yet, instead of taking serious action, the department continues to protect these providers, offering little more than a slap on the wrist.
A system built for abuse
The privatised nature of the employment services system is at the heart of this exploitation. Job providers appear more motivated by profit than the well-being of their clients. While some are “not for profit”, they are also very clearly “not for loss” either. And they know they can get away with it. The government’s complaints process shields providers from accountability, and even when misconduct is identified, no provider has faced significant penalties. Instead, they are allowed to continue profiting off the most vulnerable Australians.
What is Labor’s excuse for this? What happened to standing up for the underdog, for working Australians? Instead of meaningful reform, we get half-hearted acknowledgements and empty threats. Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt’s recent scolding of providers for their behaviour is too little, too late. The Albanese Government has had ample time to fix this broken system, but it refuses to do so.
The Albanese Government’s day of reckoning
The Albanese government deserves to face the full force of an electoral backlash for its neglect of the poorest Australians. As this latest scandal shows, Labor is content to let the unemployed and the working poor be harassed and exploited. The only appropriate course of action is to strip providers like APM of their licences and overhaul the privatised system entirely. But until that happens, Australians can only expect more of the same: a government that is utterly indifferent to the suffering of its most vulnerable citizens.
The poorest Australians deserve better, and they will make sure their voices are heard at the next election. If Labor continues down this path, they will have earned every bit of the coming backlash.
David O’Halloran is an occupational therapist with nearly 40 years’ experience and lectures in Work and Labour Market Theory at Monash University. He is also the President of the Tasmanian Council of Churches.