Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania supports the Settlement Council of Australia’s (SCOA) main recommendations in its submission to the House Select Committee Inquiry into Workforce Australia Employment Services.
SCOA represents settlement agencies across Australia for people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, many of which provide employment support and services.
SCOA’s main recommendations in this submission include:
- Employment support should be customised to a person’s educational and employment journey, without a ‘work-first’ approach.
- The government should open a new tender round enabling settlement agencies to tender and adequately recognise and value their specialist expertise.
- More ‘CALD’ and ‘Refugee’ licenses should be issued in areas that have high caseloads of those cohorts.
These recommendations would foster an approach that puts a job seeker’s strengths and the necessary steps to attain employment readiness at the center, as opposed to a strict, compliance-focused model.
The recommendations would help migrant and refugee job seekers to enter the workforce in a job in their field, rather than entering low-level jobs that do not match their skill set.
SCOA’s full submission can be viewed on the website: https://scoa.org.au/submission-inquiry-into-workforce-australia-employment-services/