More than two decades of employment assistance programs in Australia have been exclusively geared to driving down the number of people claiming welfare benefits and reducing the cost of helping people find work at “any cost”, a Labor MP says.

Charged with reviewing the $7.1 billion Workforce Australia employment program, the member for Bruce, Julian Hill, used a speech in Sydney on Tuesday to savage privatised programs dating back to the Howard government, saying policies from the federal government were too often based on lazy stereotypes and outdated political rhetoric.