Endorse the government's employment services overhaul and its push for real wage rises — back it or block it?

A Labor backbencher moved a motion praising the government's plan to overhaul Australia's employment services — the roughly $2 billion-a-year system that helps people find work — as the biggest reform in 30 years, and backing the government's call for a sustainable real wage increase for minimum wage and award workers. The plan would replace the current one-size-fits-all model with three service streams: fast digital support for job-ready people, tailored provider support, and intensive help for those facing the greatest barriers. Labor MPs backed it; Coalition MPs said they support the dignity of work but won't endorse the motion, arguing it praises intentions rather than results. The debate ran about 41 minutes and was adjourned with no vote.

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📄 House Hansard, 22 Jun 2026 — Employment

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The strongest case each way

For · Government (Labor)The current system, designed 30 years ago, traps people in cycles — around one in six who leave return within a year and one in five stay more than five years. Three tailored service streams plus more meaningful mutual obligations, backed by over $312 million, would match support to each person's actual barriers and local job market. Labor also points to a national minimum wage up more than $12,000 a year since 2022 and 2.7 million award workers getting a rise.

Against · CoalitionThe Coalition agrees work brings dignity but says the motion asks the House to endorse intentions and media releases rather than results. It argues reforms should be judged only on putting people into lasting work, warns that four in five new jobs rely on the public purse, and says minimum wage rises are eaten away by inflation running at 4.2 per cent, hurting small businesses that bear the cost.

Mixed · Rebekha Sharkie (Centre Alliance)Drawing on a cross-party committee that made 75 recommendations, Sharkie says the current system is clearly failing — of about a million people on JobSeeker or youth allowance, 557,000 are long-term unemployed. She calls for intensive investment to get people job-ready and qualified for shortage sectors like aged care and trucking, where licence and training costs block people who want to work.