Post by Niemmy on Nov 7, 2007 5:52:04 GMT -5
TONY EASTLEY: The Salvation Army has been identified as the subject of a Federal Government investigation into Job Network overpayments. Already, it's been forced to pay back around $9-million.
The Federal Government Minister responsible, Sharman Stone, says she can't comment on the specifics of the case for legal reasons, but she denies that the system is at fault.
The Opposition isn't necessarily pointing the finger of blame at the Salvation Army either, but according to shadow spokeswoman Penny Wong, the Government's Job Network system is faulty.
From Canberra, Chief Political Correspondent Catherine McGrath.
CATHERINE MCGRATH: The Minster for Workforce Participation Sharman Stone says legal reasons prevent her from disclosing details of the case involving the Salvation Army.
SHARMAN STONE: No. Quite obviously it's a work in progress and I couldn't comment on any particular case.
CATHERINE MCGRATH: There are widespread investigations going on at the moment though?
SHARMAN STONE: Oh, this is part of the routine work of the Department of Employment and Workplace relations. We have them monitoring, as you can imagine, over a billion dollar program.
CATHERINE MCGRATH: But what is known is that an investigation was launched because of claims that too many Job Network providers were re-classifying some of the jobseekers they were seeing as disabled.
Under regulations introduced last year, Job Network providers were able to re-classify their clients after an initial determination from Centrelink.
Shadow spokeswoman Penny Wong says the system is poorly designed and encourages bad outcomes.
PENNY WONG: The core of the problem is the Howard Government's incompetent supervision and design of the Job Network.
The Government's created an employment services system where it gives the biggest rewards to those who fudge the figures.
So clearly the Government must come clean, it must disclose how much taxpayers' money has been mismanaged and it must redesign the system so that rewards are focussed on those job providers … employment services providers who get real jobs for jobseekers.
CATHERINE MCGRATH: It's a claim denied by Sharman Stone.
SHARMAN STONE: Well, it's extraordinary that they'd make that claim, since the Job Network has been the most amazingly successful process of finding people jobs compared to what Labor was doing with the old CES before 1996.
Now this job figure classification instrument, if you like, was introduced in 1998 when we established Job Network.
What it does, at Centrelink, there's an establishment of the likelihood of the person coming in for a job, of them being out of work long-term.
So it looks at their gender, age, their qualifications, whether they're Indigenous or not, where they're actually living, you know whether a remote place or metropolitan, and then it also looks at their short or long-term disabilities, say a medical condition.
When you put all that together, you get a ranking of how … of the level of disadvantage for this individual.
Now just last year, there was a decision with a greater emphasis in Job Network on helping the most disadvantaged.
It was a decision taken that when the person was sent through to a Job Network provider with that ranking established, if you like, by Centrelink, that the Job Network provider could after a time, if necessary, re-rank that person's level of disability as it's officially known, on the basis that their circumstances might have changed, they might've become unwell, or perhaps they feel more comfortable with a Job Network provider and they'd talked about some other issues in their life which made it hard for them to get a job.
And that development was in close consultation of course with Job Network providers, and that's where a very tiny minority of some of our offices across the country got into a bit of trouble in how they were re-ranking some of these individuals.
CATHERINE MCGRATH: A short time ago, Major Brad Halse from the Salvation Army confirmed the details of the investigation.
BRAD HALSE: Yes, the Salvation Army has co-operated very strongly with the Department of Employment and Work Relations.
It was about mid least year that both our audits and the departmental audits started to see that there were some irregularities in the level of payments received, particularly for highly disadvantaged jobseekers.
CATHERINE MCGRATH: Are you concerned about what impact this is going to have on the reputation of the Salvation Army?
BRAD HALSE: We have very strong support from both employers and people seeking work, so we don't think so. We've co-operated very quickly and repaid a significant amount of money, and those discussions are ongoing with the department.
TONY EASTLEY: Major Brad Halse from the Salvation Army.
"I hope they breach those fuckin Salvation Army Arseholes!" ;D ;D
The Federal Government Minister responsible, Sharman Stone, says she can't comment on the specifics of the case for legal reasons, but she denies that the system is at fault.
The Opposition isn't necessarily pointing the finger of blame at the Salvation Army either, but according to shadow spokeswoman Penny Wong, the Government's Job Network system is faulty.
From Canberra, Chief Political Correspondent Catherine McGrath.
CATHERINE MCGRATH: The Minster for Workforce Participation Sharman Stone says legal reasons prevent her from disclosing details of the case involving the Salvation Army.
SHARMAN STONE: No. Quite obviously it's a work in progress and I couldn't comment on any particular case.
CATHERINE MCGRATH: There are widespread investigations going on at the moment though?
SHARMAN STONE: Oh, this is part of the routine work of the Department of Employment and Workplace relations. We have them monitoring, as you can imagine, over a billion dollar program.
CATHERINE MCGRATH: But what is known is that an investigation was launched because of claims that too many Job Network providers were re-classifying some of the jobseekers they were seeing as disabled.
Under regulations introduced last year, Job Network providers were able to re-classify their clients after an initial determination from Centrelink.
Shadow spokeswoman Penny Wong says the system is poorly designed and encourages bad outcomes.
PENNY WONG: The core of the problem is the Howard Government's incompetent supervision and design of the Job Network.
The Government's created an employment services system where it gives the biggest rewards to those who fudge the figures.
So clearly the Government must come clean, it must disclose how much taxpayers' money has been mismanaged and it must redesign the system so that rewards are focussed on those job providers … employment services providers who get real jobs for jobseekers.
CATHERINE MCGRATH: It's a claim denied by Sharman Stone.
SHARMAN STONE: Well, it's extraordinary that they'd make that claim, since the Job Network has been the most amazingly successful process of finding people jobs compared to what Labor was doing with the old CES before 1996.
Now this job figure classification instrument, if you like, was introduced in 1998 when we established Job Network.
What it does, at Centrelink, there's an establishment of the likelihood of the person coming in for a job, of them being out of work long-term.
So it looks at their gender, age, their qualifications, whether they're Indigenous or not, where they're actually living, you know whether a remote place or metropolitan, and then it also looks at their short or long-term disabilities, say a medical condition.
When you put all that together, you get a ranking of how … of the level of disadvantage for this individual.
Now just last year, there was a decision with a greater emphasis in Job Network on helping the most disadvantaged.
It was a decision taken that when the person was sent through to a Job Network provider with that ranking established, if you like, by Centrelink, that the Job Network provider could after a time, if necessary, re-rank that person's level of disability as it's officially known, on the basis that their circumstances might have changed, they might've become unwell, or perhaps they feel more comfortable with a Job Network provider and they'd talked about some other issues in their life which made it hard for them to get a job.
And that development was in close consultation of course with Job Network providers, and that's where a very tiny minority of some of our offices across the country got into a bit of trouble in how they were re-ranking some of these individuals.
CATHERINE MCGRATH: A short time ago, Major Brad Halse from the Salvation Army confirmed the details of the investigation.
BRAD HALSE: Yes, the Salvation Army has co-operated very strongly with the Department of Employment and Work Relations.
It was about mid least year that both our audits and the departmental audits started to see that there were some irregularities in the level of payments received, particularly for highly disadvantaged jobseekers.
CATHERINE MCGRATH: Are you concerned about what impact this is going to have on the reputation of the Salvation Army?
BRAD HALSE: We have very strong support from both employers and people seeking work, so we don't think so. We've co-operated very quickly and repaid a significant amount of money, and those discussions are ongoing with the department.
TONY EASTLEY: Major Brad Halse from the Salvation Army.
"I hope they breach those fuckin Salvation Army Arseholes!" ;D ;D