Civil Society call to reform welfare for unemployed

My name is David Daniel Ball. I authored the twelve book series "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice." I have been on unemployment since I resigned over corruption and harassment in my NSW Dept. of Ed workplace in 2007. I have become an Australian citizen twice. I have been sentenced to jail for one day, and all related references to the sentence have been destroyed by Bob Carr. I became a permanent resident when I flew to Australia with my Mother in 1978. Both my parents are Australian born, but neither could be found in a federal database. 

In 2014 I was offered an opportunity to pursue an NEIS placement. I applied but because my online work, which is secular and apolitical, included the word ‘conservative’ it was deemed that my work was not commensurate with what NEIS was designed to develop, being too political. Instead I, who have an undergraduate degree, including computer science, and a masters degree, including computers in the classroom, was placed in a level 2 training course on introduction to computers. There is no impediment to my working as a Math Teacher. No one will hire me. I have friends in the profession who have been told not to hire me. 

My issue is professional and the federal body representing my interests has a duty of care to me to address the issues on which the State Government bodies have erroneously acted. I am fat, but at the time I was not too fat to work. But that has changed over time. I had a home, savings, and a hope for my future. I have since been made homeless. I have lost everything. I have been isolated. And in order to complete my work, I had to leave Centrelink. 

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National Reform Series 2016 | Civil Society Australia Reforming Employment Services: Developing Supports that Work  for JobSeekers     Call for Reform Proposals   Online Consultation and National Conference   18 April 2016  Melbourne

An Invitation to Participate Australia's employment services system has evolved over the last thirty years from a government service monopoly (the Commonwealth Employment Service) to a system of competitively-tendered contractors, for-profit and not-for-profit (the name changes regularly, now JobActive).  Despite this evolution, the experience of employment services by jobseekers has remained largely unchanged: isolated and anxious jobseekers are referred by officials to training programs, manufactured work experience assignments, short-term make-work schemes and listed job vacancies, with little positive impact on their self-esteem, social networks, skill development, real work experience or employability. Recent reports indicate that 70% of NewStart recipients have been unemployed for more than 12 months (long term unemployed). The high cost of the employment services system and its poor outcomes have been subject to little public scrutiny. Without direct experience of being a 'client', politicians and policy makers are largely unaware of the system's dysfunction.  The employment services system requires major reform. The main issues to be addressed include: The absence of individually-tailored, person-centred services in practice  Lack of peer-based and community-based mutual supports  Churning of jobseekers through training programs divorced from real workplaces  Lack of person-controlled technology to integrate work, training and jobseeking history  Absence of support for group enterprise & self-employment development  Endless meetings between case-managers and jobseekers with no purpose  Misdirected accountability of services to funders but not to users of services  Lack of appropriate incentives for employers to employ long-term unemployed people  Little financial transparency in the costs and expenditures of the system  The resilience of provider-centred cultures in services and Centrelink  The isolation of disability employment services from real world business and work  Suggestions for reform of the employment services system, its operations, processes and culture, are invited. Jobseekers, people with disabilities, families, support organisations, community groups, services and policy makers are invited to contribute to this people-driven process. Reforming Employment Services: Process and Timeline 1 February - 31 March 2016 Submit your suggestions and proposals for reform of employment services. Proposals will be distributed to registered participants in this process for consideration.  Participants consider various suggestions and proposals for reform, and offer their assessments. The authors of proposals with significant support will be invited to present on their ideas at a national conference on Reforming Employment Services in Melbourne on 18 April 2016. 1 April - 18 April 2016 Refinement of proposals based on participant feedback. 18 April 2016 Participants assess proposals for Employment Services Reform. Mechanisms will be established for driving an ongoing reform process.CLICK HERE to register your interest in participating in this process. CLICK HERE to submit a suggestion or proposal for reform. CLICK HERE to register for the April 2016 national conference.

Two Days in April 2016 This process and conference on Monday 18 April 2016 forms part of a series of reform events hosted by Civil Society Australia in 2016. Two events will be held in April 2016. Participants may attend one or both of these as they wish.  Monday 18 April 2016  Reforming Employment Services: Developing Supports that Work for JobSeekers Tuesday 19 April 2016  Reforming Welfare: Building A System that Supports People in Need CLICK HERE for further information. Venue The Angliss Conference Centre is located in the Melbourne CBD, on the corner of LaTrobe and King Streets, on the fifth floor. It is close to train and tram services. Flagstaff railway station is one block away in LaTrobe St, and Southern Cross station is three blocks away in Spencer St. Trams 23, 24, 30, 34, and City Circle run along LaTrobe Street. There are numerous accommodation options close by, to suit all budgets. Start and Finish Times Both events begin at 9.15am, finishing at 5.00pm.  CLICK HERE to register for one or both of these events.  Further Information CLICK HERE for further information. CLICK HERE for Civil Society Australia website.