Andrew Leigh

Joint media release with
The Hon Tony Burke MP
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Minister for the Arts
Leader of the House

SERVICE IMPROVEMENT TRIALS FOR WORKFORCE AUSTRALIA ONLINE

The Australian Government is undertaking service improvement trials for Workforce Australia Online, to ensure employment services better meet the needs of the people who use them.

These trials will help build public sector stewardship in the employment services system, a key reform principle outlined in the Employment White Paper.

The trials will test whether people using online services get better employment outcomes, such as through more intensive job-finding support delivered by government and reduced length of time in online services. 

The service improvement trials are designed in partnership with the Australian Centre for Evaluation at Treasury, and subject to a robust ethical framework.

Participation will be voluntary, with opt-out provisions available to all clients.

The online service improvement trials will inform the government’s response to the House Select Committee into Workforce Australia Employment Services.

Quotes attributable to Minister Burke:

“The Government knows there are many people who just want to find jobs.”

“We want an employment service that works to genuinely connect people to jobs, and a system that employers want to use to meet their workforce needs.”

“This will help improve the support offered through online employment services.”

Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister Leigh:

“High quality trials have a strong track record in assessing new medications, and have been used in other countries to evaluate employment programs. In this year’s budget, we established the Australian Centre for Evaluation, with a mandate to conduct more rigorous evaluations.

“These are among the first Australian high quality trials to evaluate employment services. They demonstrate the Albanese Government’s commitment to evidence over ideology and building an evidence base using the most rigorous evaluation techniques.

“We owe it to employment service clients to build the strongest possible evidence base. These trials will help vulnerable Australians find secure, well-paid jobs.”