(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
There's been a mixed reaction from migrant and Indigenous organisations over plans by the federal government to expand the Work for the Dole scheme to make it compulsory for all Newstart recipients.
Mandatory Work for the Dole was introduced by the Howard Government in the 1990s, but the mandatory element was removed by Labor.
Under the Coalition's planned expansion, Newstart recipients would be forced to complete tasks like rubbish collection and park maintenance as part of efforts to make them more employable.
But the move has been criticised by the Federal Opposition and by some community groups, claiming it could force some jobless Australians to work for below the minimum wage.
Michael Kenny reports.
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Federal Assistant Employment Minister Luke Hartsuyker says he believes local councils and non-profit organisations, for example, could benefit from providing jobless people with workplace experience placements for around three months.
Mr Hartsuyker says the government would pay organisations that sign up to the scheme to cover the costs of job requirements like worker's compensation, health and safety training or police checks.
He has told the ABC, the scheme would aim to give unemployed Australians the basic skills to get a job.
"One of the things that Work for the Dole has the capacity to do is to give people the sort of soft skills that employers say they need. Many skills that people in work take for granted such as turning up on time everyday, coming dressed presentably and so forth- some jobseekers don't have those skills and Work for the Dole is a great way of imparting what they call the soft skills onto people who are looking for work."
Mr Hartsuyker believes Work for the Dole was highly effective under the Howard Government and helped expand job opportunities for many job seekers.
However the Federal Opposition disagrees and insists the scheme did not provide the long term skills the unemployed need to stay in the job market.
The Opposition's Assistant Treasury Spokesman Andrew Leigh has told Sky News, he believes the past evidence from Work for the Dole shows it was a failure.
"If the Coalition pursues Work for the Dole, they'll be pursuing a policy which, on the evidence, will increase the jobless rate. When people talk about bad policies, they're typically talking about policies that don't have the desired effect. This is worse than that. This is a policy that would actually make the problem worse."
Mr Leigh says the Work for the Dole scheme would require individuals to work below the minimum wage, based on the Newstart rate of $35 a day.
He believes this could in turn lead to the potential exploitation of many jobless Australians.
The Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia says migrants and refugees may be at particular risk of this because of limited English skills.
FECCA Chairman Joe Caputo believes the federal government should not be pushing for the Work for the Dole scheme to be made compulsory because this risks stigmatising all the unemployed as lazy.
He says many newly-arrived migrants have a strong work ethic and see employment as an important step towards settling into Australia.
"You only have to get into a taxi to find that a lot of the taxis are driven by immigrants who are over-qualified. They often have Masters or doctorates and they are driving taxis and that is a demonstration if you like that newly arrived immigrants are not work-shy. They are prepared to take jobs even if it means working below their qualifications."
Rather than expanding Work for the Dole, Mr Caputo believes the government should instead focus its efforts on directing the unemployed into areas of the labour market where there are clear skills shortages, to maximise their chances of finding a job.
The Executive Director of the Townsville Intercultural Centre, Farvadin Daliri has helped develop a number of training programs, specifically tailored to the needs of newly-arrived migrants and refugees.
Born in Iran, Dr Daliri migrated to Australia in the 1980s and he says his own personal experiences have led him to see the merit in schemes like Work for the Dole.
"30 years ago, I was trying to build my life while being a student and having a young family and I did everything- from driving a cab to painting a shop window and cleaning floors. Anything was on the plate and I enjoyed doing everything and I think we have to associate working and serving the community with pride and that's part of our culture. I think this will have to work. That's how we humans are."
The Indigenous employment organisation Generation One believes it is critical to ensure there is adequate consultation with local communities as part of any changes to the Work for the Dole scheme.
Generation One National Development Director Jeremy Donovan says many Indigenous Australians want to work close to their homelands where they have deep ancestral connections.
He believes policy-makers need to factor in these cultural factors and tailor the program to suit the needs of individual communities.
"It's not a one shoe fits all policy when it comes to looking at Indigenous communities, especially around the country when looking at both urban and rural and remote communities. We can't have a blanket approach to it because it is quite diverse and different from one area to the next. So we do need to look at things very closely and develop what is best practice for the communities."
Indigenous businessman John Moriarty says any move to expand the Work for the Dole scheme needs to factor in what sort of long term job opportunities are available in remote communities.
Currently Deputy Chairman of Indigenous Business Australia, Mr Moriarty has had a long and successful career as an Indigenous artist and former soccer player and grew up in the remote Northern Territory community of Borroloola.
He believes Work for the Dole should be flexible enough to allow Indigenous jobless in remote communities to move to bigger urban centres while still maintaining connections to their homelands.
"You will find a number of people looking for permanent jobs to look after their own families. I know of a couple of people who wanted jobs and they would have been happy to move to a major city even though they have been brought up in this remote town of Borroloola and I think we should be looking after those."
While no date has been fixed, the federal government says the expanded Work for the Dole scheme will be operational before July 2015.
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