The over hyped PaTH intern program seems to be following the worrying trajectory of many other Turnbull government jobs programs.
Questions are being raised about the PaTH program’s protection of young jobseekers exploitation and unsafe work practices.
An FOI document related to the Turnbull Government’s Youth Jobs PaTH program reinforces these concerns.
Despite Turnbull Government assurances that there are safeguards in place for those participating in the program, this document sheds light on a wide range of problems with their Youth Jobs PaTH program.
Taking into account that Labor has been raising the risks of this program since 2016 the problems raised by this document shows that the Turnbull government does not take the safety of vulnerable young Australians seriously.
In addition to safety related instances there are multiple complaints of delays in paperwork completion, useless training and non-payment of participants entitled to incentive payments.
The document cites instances of:
- Sexual harassment where a trainer invited two participants on an “overnight excursion” where participants felt there were “inappropriate intentions”.
- Women being criticised about their physical appearance.
- No consideration of people with mental and physical disabilities.
- Unacceptable working conditions.
- Jobseekers turning up for compulsory meeting, waiting an hour and then being told their consultant would not be attending.
Minister Michaelia Cash assured us: “The department of jobs and small business closely monitors all internship placements to ensure program requirements are met.”
But in Senate Estimates the Department talked at length about the safeguards in places for these young jobseekers, while in the same discussion about how little data they collect about Youth PaTH experiences:
“We don’t collect information on the hours that they work”
“I wouldn’t have that data in front of me”
“I don’t have figures.”
Enough is enough.
The Turnbull Government must fix their unsafe and exploitative Youth Jobs PaTH program.
WEDNESDAY 27 JUNE 2018