Jobseeker reporting hotline receives 300 reports of alleged wrongdoing

Hundreds of people on welfare are under investigation accused of refusing suitable jobs or failing to attend interviews.

Hundreds of people on welfare are under investigation accused of refusing suitable jobs, failing to attend interviews or submitting inappropriate applications.

Only seven weeks since a new hotline was opened for businesses to report people who were not taking their responsibility to get into work seriously, there have been 300 reports, with 240 under investigation as of May 28.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal 17 per cent of the reports to the Employer Reporting Line relate to NSW Jobseekers, substantially less than the one in four reports relating to Queensland.

A new hotline to receive complaints from businesses has had 300 reports. Picture: Che Chorley

The data does not include the current lockdown in Victoria, where mutual obligations have been suspended.

In one example a restaurant manager in Sydney contacted the Employer Reporting Line to complain about multiple applicants who had either inappropriately applied or refused to attend a job interview at a time when the business was finding it difficult to recruit staff.

Employment Minister Stuart Robert said it was “disappointing” to see hundreds of people referred to the service in its first weeks of operation.

“At the end of the day Australians expect everyone who can work to get into work and some of the stories coming out of the Employer Reporting Line are frankly unacceptable,” he said.

“We’ve got reports from restaurants in Sydney that they’ve received numerous inappropriate job applications and had several applicants refuse to attend job interviews, we’ve also got reports of a vet in Victoria that has had over a dozen individuals falsely answer yes to, ‘are you a registered veterinarian in Australia?’ wasting time which is so precious for small business owners.”

Employment Minister Stuart Robert said it was ‘disappointing’ so many welfare recipients had been reported to the hotline. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Mr Robert said there were hundreds of businesses across the country “crying out for workers” and thousands of people in Victorians battling a Covid-19 outbreak to “get back on the job”.

“To say I am disappointed is an understatement,” he said.

Depending on the type of payment a person is receiving, welfare recipients are required to actively look for work, including completing job applications, attending interviews and potentially undertaking new skills training.

Under the Jobseeker mutual obligation requirements, Australians are still allowed to decline work if it does not meet legal wage of health and safety requirements, it involves an unreasonably long commute, aggravates an illness, injury or disability, requires skills the person does not have and doesn’t offer training, or if the person cannot get appropriate care for their child.

The hotline was first announced by the federal government in 2020 when it unveiled a timeline for the gradual return of mutual obligations after they had all been suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.

Originally published as Jobseeker reporting hotline receives 300 reports of alleged wrongdoing