Churches take over Job Network
By Jonathan Singer
In a $3 billion round of contracts offered at the end of 1999, the Coalition government largely completed its privatisation of the employment services previously provided by the Commonwealth Employment Service. These have now been almost entirely outsourced through the Job Network system.
The government-owned Employment National's share of the most lucrative contracts, for job placement of the long-term unemployed, dropped from 40% in the previous round to 1%. The dominant position is now held by church-based employment agencies, according to estimates reported in the December 29 Sydney Morning Herald.
Prime Minister John Howard stated in the January 12 Australian that the Job Network is part of the government's "social coalition" policy, which aims to make families, community groups, charities and businesses the providers of social services, rather than the government. The words "social coalition" join "mutual obligation" in the government's propaganda, by which it hopes to turn what was a universal right to social security and welfare into a privately controlled and supplied service obtainable only by those considered part of the "deserving poor".
About three-quarters of the Job Network contracts will be operated by private businesses. Up to 59 Employment National offices may close (a few new ones may open) and 700 of its staff may lose their jobs. The December 29 Sydney Morning Herald also suggests many community-based agencies do not have enough contracts to remain viable.
The largest job agency in the Job Network is now Salvation Army Employment Plus, which has contracts worth $277.6 million. The Anglican Church's Mission Australia could earn up to $241.6 million, the Catholic Church's Centacare $86.6 million and Wesley Uniting Employment $82 million. On January 6, church agencies were also awarded nearly half of the contracts in a $10 million program for carers returning to work.
The churches reap from their agencies not only the profits to fund further religious activities, they also introduce religious influences into the agencies themselves. A large proportion of the workers from agencies which lost contracts and who sought employment with the church agencies were quizzed about their religious views, according to the December 29 Sydney Morning Herald.
A Wesley Mission information sheet handed to job applicants says: "Staff are expected to speak and behave in accord with Christian standards and give an example by joining in appropriate worship services and such devotional acts as a centre may be conducting". A Wesley Mission spokesperson was quoted in the December 29 Sydney Morning Herald, "A person who was not Christian would certainly feel out of place".
Mission Australia said a Christian ethos, "defined whatever way you see fit", was a desirable criterion for employment, while Centacare said its ethos must be understood by employees. The Salvation Army's agency said potential employees "will need to demonstrate ... commitment to the culture and vision" of the agency: it asks job applicants to state what they understand the work of the Salvation Army to be and how they see themselves working within it.
Employment services minister Tony Abbott defended the view that employees of church agencies "need to understand Christian values". Right-wing columnists such as Frank Devine (Australian, January 13) and Christopher Pearson (Australian Financial Review, January 12) put up supporting arguments, stating, "People wanting to work for church bodies shouldn't find this unreasonable" and "The inclusion of Christian organisations will improve the prospects of the 'difficult' unemployed".
But the agencies are supposed to be, not religious bodies, but employment services, and government-funded ones at that. Unemployed people are required to register with them in order to receive welfare payments. There is no basis for believing that the religious grounding of their values, as opposed to the values themselves, makes these agencies more effective.
A January 4 letter to the agencies from the employment department called on them not to discriminate on the grounds of religion. According to the January 8 Australian, a statement by then acting prime minister John Anderson, which followed ALP and Democrat proposals to apply anti-discrimination laws, did likewise.
However, Anderson also said that the agencies should be allowed to seek employees who share their values, as church schools do. The church schools, however, have a long record of discriminating against teachers whose lives and views outside of the classroom may not match the schools' own.
The government is happy to see state funding turn the organisation of employment services into a religious activity. It has allowed similar church influence in health care (as a result, abortion services are less accessible) and in education. And the churches are happy to use their wealth to advance their influence.