New report exposes aggressive tax minimisation tactics by employment services

A new report by a tax research group has exposed tax minimisation techniques used by outsourced employment services, who receive $5 billion in public money each year to enforce welfare compliance.

Included below: comments from Antipoverty Centre spokesperson Jay Coonan, quotes from people in the system and crisis line information.

The new Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (CICTAR) report documents political donations and connections as well as complex corporate structures designed to extract maximum profit and shareholder dividends from the system that claims to be designed for unemployed people. Meanwhile, many of the 1 million people forced to use these “services” suffer housing insecurity, grinding poverty and abuse at the hands of these welfare compliance organisations.

For a truly supportive system the Albanese government must:

1. End all compulsory activity requirements that allow for welfare recipients to have their payment stopped

2. Increase all Centrelink payments to at lest the Henderson poverty line and work with low income people to better understand our living costs

3. Create a high quality, voluntary, public sector employment services so no one gets public money to profit from unemployment

Quotes from people in (un)employment services

The below quotes have been shared with the Antipoverty Centre by welfare recipients who are forced to use privatised employment services providers and attributed as requested by each individual.

On APM:
“The job network put my name forward only for cleaning jobs (I was 60 yrs old at that time). Health issues prevent me from cleaning and I had an exemption with Centrelink which was completely ignored by the Network. When I explained this to the Network and didn’t attend a job interview I was given 3 demerit points and told I was a dole bludger by my provider... I chose to meet my obligations by volunteering so that I would not have to continue with the job network. It has left me feeling utterly worthless and I refuse to be treated like that again.” – anonymous

On atWork:
“… for several months they were in a tiny storage room type office in my local medical clinic; the room had the name of an unrelated medical practitioner on the door, with no indication that it was the atWork room; there was no signage indicating that it was the atWork room; and the people at the front desk, from which the atWork door was literally visible mind you, didn't know where it was.” – Isabelle

On Sarina Russo Job Access:
“Zero practical help finding what I consider a suitable job for my skillset. Don't think they've actually read my resume. Staff range from relatively understanding to openly hostile.” – anonymous

On Jobs Statewide:
“Haven't been of any assistance so far, keep asking me the same questions, have been seeing different staff members every time.” – anonymous

Quotes attributable to Antipoverty Centre spokesperson Jay Coonan

“This industry has been draining public coffers for decades now with little scrutiny thanks to their deep connections to political parties and powerful people – that is well documented in the media and on their websites. This is the government’s largest procurement outside of the defence portfolio, with $5 billion a year going to companies who are subject to little oversight while they use welfare penalties to extract profit from poor people.

“These providers have been given a license to unlawfully stop people’s Centrelink payments, with millions of payment suspension notices still being issued each year in the face of revelations that the use of these penalties is not legally sound.

“It is only natural for the community to have concerns about conflicts of interest when we see the employment minister – who is supposed to be holding these providers accountable – headlining their industry conference while the Labor party accepts massive donations from providers, despite the well documented brutality inflicted on unemployed people by these morally bankrupt organisations.

“The Albanese government will have no credibility until it starts listening to people in poverty – those who want help finding paid work, and those who don’t want or need help. We want an end to this industry’s political influence. We want an end to the massive waste of public money. We want an end to punishment for profit."

Media contact: 0403 429 414‬ / media at antipovertycentre.org

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