1,000 jobs at risk under new Job Network: opposition
29 Mar 2009 12:52 PM
CANBERRA, March 29 AAP - More than 1,000 Australians could be out of work if the government goes ahead with its planned overhaul of employment services, the federal opposition says.
The organisations that will be responsible for delivering the Rudd government's new Job Network, to help the unemployed find work, are expected to be announced this week.
Opposition community services spokesman Tony Abbott said the government is planning to close a "very large percentage" of job service providers over the coming months.
"I'm expecting well over 1,000 workers to be sacked from the Job Network itself," Mr Abbott told Network Ten on Sunday.
The government has completely "mucked up" the tender process, and will struggle to find adequate services for the unemployed, he said.
"This is a first-class muck-up."
The stuff up will see Prime Minister Kevin Rudd "come crashing back to earth with a thud" pretty quickly.
"One hundred thousand newly redundant people without access to proper services - that's the kind of thing that is going to make this ... inept prime minister very unpopular very quickly."
Federal Employment Minister Julia Gillard said the tender process had been conducted properly and at a distance from politicians.
She said if Mr Abbott was in charge he would have pulled some "dodgy deals and swifties for mates".
"Maybe when Tony Abbott was minister things were different and he'd be in there seeing if he could get a mate a good deal," Ms Gillard told ABC Television on Sunday.
