Brisbane archdiocese’s Centacare Employment Group (CEG) has defied a national trend to enjoy a net gain in contracts awarded by the Australian Government to assist disadvantaged jobseekers.

The employment services group learnt on April 3 that it had retained four of its businesses at Maroochydore, Redcliffe/Kippa-Ring, Chermside and Browns Plains.

CEG lost Goodna in the Ipswich ESA (Employment Service Area) but picked up contracts in the South Brisbane and Gold Coast ESAs.

Archdiocesan Centacare executive director Peter Selwood told The Catholic Leader that this had been an outstanding result for the agency’s employment service.

“I would like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to the professionalism of CEG director Glen Halloran and all our employment service staff,” he said.

However, he expressed sympathy for those Church-based agencies that had suffered severe cuts to their programs and staff.

“I’m thinking of Tasmania and Western Australia branches in particular which have been virtually wiped out after the awarding of the new tenders,” Mr Selwood said.

He also supported Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA) executive director Frank Quinlan’s statement that the Federal Government had treated long-standing, successful providers with “absolute disrespect” during the process of awarding employment service contracts.

Mr Selwood made the comments after a national outcry over the loss of an estimated 2500 jobs as hundreds of employment service providers across Australia lost government contracts.

More than a quarter of the job agencies – up to 100 businesses – missed out on contracts.

The upheaval followed a $4 billion overhaul of the Job Network which will become known as Job Services Australia from July.

The biggest losers were the Wesley Mission, the Salvation Army, Sarina Russo Job Access and Mission Australia.

Sarina Russo Job Access, one of the biggest job service providers in Queensland, may have to cut about 200 staff after being told that at least 10 sites would have to be closed.

Mr Halloran said he believed Centacare’s experience in helping a wide range of disadvantaged jobseekers and the “very sound model” employed to develop the government tender application had ensured the recent success.

“Centacare in the Brisbane archdiocese has been involved in the Job Network for nine years and has been helping people with a disability find work for the past 15 years,” he said.

“All this experience and knowledge went into preparing a tender which looked to the needs of a wide range of jobseekers – it was a very holistic approach.

“Obviously it was what the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) was looking for.”

However, Mr Halloran said the successful new contract was not about “expansion for expansion’s sake”.

“It’s an opportunity for the archdiocese to continue its mission to provide services to disadvantaged people – in this case disadvantaged jobseekers,” he said.

“Our employment service centres provide a wide range of assistance in all sorts of areas such as literacy, supporting indigenous jobseekers ... the list goes on.

“That’s why it’s such a setback to communities when these job centres have to shut down.”

Mr Halloran said it was disappointing to have not been successful in retaining the Goodna business.

“However, as we will be opening new sites in South Brisbane ESA it will be easy to accommodate staff from the closing site at Goodna.

“There will be also many new places to fill at the Gold Coast service which takes in Southport, Nerang and Palm Beach.”

Both Mr Halloran and Mr Selwood agreed that the process of awarding the three-year employment service contracts needed to be much improved.

Both said they were disappointed that the process had shown little respect for either the providers or the staff.

There was also the issue of the large numbers of agencies which lost business despite impressive performances in placing jobseekers and other related outcomes, Mr Selwood said.

“As Frank Quinlan from CSSA said, the news sends a worrying message to community sector agencies,” he said.

“How can it be in the interests of either unemployed Australians or the sector to be shutting down services and opening new ones in the midst of the greatest employment crisis in a decade?”

Released by The Catholic Leader