The federal government has been accused of cutting employment services to little more than a job-matching scheme amid fears many unemployed youth in Melbourne’s north and north-west will be left with fewer options after June 30.
Three tailored jobs programs and at least 12 full-time staff are likely to be axed from Youth Projects’ Sunbury, Craigieburn and Glenroy centres after the not-for-profit agency missed out on a national employment services tender.
Youth Projects has been providing health, employment and training services to young people facing disadvantage, unemployment, homelessness, alcohol and other drug issues for close to 20 years.
Chief executive Melanie Raymond said the government’s choice to ‘‘favour’’ profit-driven providers meant programs to transition youth into jobs and training would cease.
‘‘It’s a massive blow to young people in the north,’’ Ms Raymond said.
As reported by Star Weekly, Victoria ended 2014 with the highest yearly average youth unemployment rate since the 1990s, at 14.6 per cent. On Melbourne’s north-western fringe, including Sunbury, this figure was slightly higher at 14.8 per cent.
Employment Minister Eric Abetz said the three-year, $5 billion program would slash red tape and eliminate ‘‘training for training’s sake’’.
He said the new system would provide clearer incentives to ensure employment service providers focused on preparing jobseekers to meet the needs of local employers, helping them find and keep a job.
But Ms Raymond said global job service providers had been handed huge portfolios at the expense of not-for-profit organisations.
‘‘The government seems to have a preference for large-scale, international providers that specialise in cost-cutting, but it’s local organisations like Youth Projects that have done the best work,’’ she said.
‘‘If you are profit driven, you focus on the clients who are easier to place.’’
Ms Raymond said successful programs for early school leavers, including a kitchen academy and trades training, faced an uncertain future. A new coffee social enterprise that has already helped seven long-term unemployed youth find jobs could also be axed.
