Removing the barriers to work
Employment services are undergoing reform. Does the current system benefit private companies at the expense of senior jobseekers?
Older Australians looking for paid work are often told that experience, reliability, and workplace know-how are valuable. But for many people over 45 – especially those who have been retrenched, taken time out for caring, dealt with illness, or found that job applications have moved online – getting back into work can be difficult and demoralising.
The Antipoverty Centre has pointed to a recent report by the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (CICTAR), which has renewed concerns about whether Australia’s privatised employment services system is helping jobseekers enough — or whether too much public money is flowing to private providers.
The CICTAR report, Who’s rorting who? The failure of outsourced job services, argues that the Workforce Australia system is “structurally broken” and says billions of dollars in Australian Government employment-services contracts have become a source of profit for private companies, including some backed by private equity.
ABC News reported that employment services are the Federal Government’s largest procurement area outside Defence, with contracts worth about $5.5 billion shared across 45 providers under Workforce Australia Services.
CICTAR’s concern is not simply that companies are paid to deliver services. Its report points to what it describes as an “alarming lack of transparency” among some major contractors and raises issues such as aggressive tax minimisation, dividend payments, offshore-related payments, tax-haven structures, and opaque financial reporting — although it notes that these practices may not be breaching the law.
The ABC reported CICTAR’s argument that the system can “fill the pockets of private equity and millionaires” while leaving many jobseekers without work.
These concerns echo earlier criticism from Parliament. In November 2023, the House of Representatives Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services tabled its Rebuilding Employment Services report, calling for large-scale reform.
It said Australia no longer had an effective national employment services system, but rather an outsourced and fragmented compliance system that “sometimes gets someone a job against all odds”.
The committee chair, Julian Hill, said full privatisation had failed and warned that the system could make people less employable by requiring unsuitable applications, courses or activities.
Impacts on older jobseekers
For older jobseekers, this matters because the barriers are often specific and personal.
Some people need help updating a resume after many years in the same job. Others need confidence with online applications, email, smartphones, video interviews, or digital workplace systems.
Jobs and Skills Australia’s mature-age labour market research was based on interviews with more than 1,000 employers who had seen at least one mature-age applicant in the previous year, and it examined why mature-age applicants succeeded or missed out, as well as what strategies employers used to support them.
One program aimed directly at this group is Career Transition Assistance (CTA). The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations says CTA is designed for people aged 45 and over to build confidence and skills so they can be more competitive in their local labour market.
It can help participants identify transferable skills, improve job-search skills, tailor applications and build confidence with workplace technology.
CTA is free for eligible people. People aged 45 and over with a linked myGov account can register, and you may also be eligible if you participate in Workforce Australia Services, Workforce Australia Online Services, Inclusive Employment Australia or Parent Pathways.
The good news is that CTA appears to address some practical needs that older jobseekers themselves often identify: respectful coaching, confidence-building, digital skills, and clearer career planning.
The harder question is whether programs such as CTA can reach their full potential inside a broader employment services system that is under intense scrutiny.
If provider payments and performance systems reward quick outcomes, compliance activity or box-ticking, older jobseekers may not receive the time, employer engagement, or retraining support they need.
The Federal Government has acknowledged the system requires reform and says the current one-size-fits-all approach means some people spend too long in employment services or fall through the cracks.
In May 2026, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister, Amanda Rishworth, announced what the Government described as a once-in-a-generation reform of employment services, including a new model with three service streams, redesigned service delivery, triaging, planning, mutual obligations, and provider incentives.
The Government says it wants support to be meaningful, tailored, and proportionate, and to connect people to the right help at the right time.
For seniors and mature-age workers, the test should be simple: does the system help people into decent, secure, and suitable work – or does it mainly manage them through appointments, obligations, and online tasks?
CTA can be useful, especially for people who want practical help with digital skills, resumes, and confidence. But the CICTAR report and the Antipoverty Centre’s concerns remind us that public money should be accountable, transparent, and focused on people who need support, not on enriching providers.
What older jobseekers can ask for
If you are 45 or over and looking for work, you can ask your provider about Career Transition Assistance and whether there is a local or online course available.
You can also ask how the course will help with your situation – for example, changing industries, returning after illness or caring responsibilities, improving computer skills, preparing for interviews, or identifying jobs that suit your experience.
It is also reasonable to ask your provider for practical help, not just obligations: a tailored resume, interview preparation, digital application support, local labour-market information, and introductions to employers who value mature-age workers.
If the system is being reformed, older Australians should have a strong voice in shaping it – because being unemployed later in life is not a personal failure, and experience should never be treated as a disadvantage.
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