Workforce Australia has been derailed by technical issues since its launch, risking over 750,000 Australians losing their welfare payments due to being unable to access the service.
The new employment platform has replaced the JobActive platform, which was shut down without a transition period or consultation from unemployment and welfare groups.
Workforce Australia currently involves an online service, smartphone app and a network of job providers for job seekers to search and apply for jobs, access the homepage, set up job alerts, manage appointments and tasks and view provider’s contact details.
The platform also removed the mutual obligations requirements in favour of an automated Points Based Activation System (PBAS), which requires those seeking welfare benefits to complete a series of tasks such as applying for a job in return for payments.
However, the new platform crashed when it was due to the number of people trying to access it on Sunday, causing welfare recipients to be unable to access its services.
Australian Unemployed Workers Union (AUWU) spokesperson Jeremy Poxon tweeted that he couldn’t log into the app on Monday morning.
Other people responded to his tweet, saying they were also being shown “500 internal server error” messages.
By Monday, Workforce Australia began to spread fear and distress among welfare recipients as many were still unable to use the platform and its vital location services. It was even revealed that the platform includes an individual’s legal name despite having supplied their preferred name, potentially causing trans people to be deadnamed.
While a spokesperson for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations later on apologised for the issues and stated that it was corrected, users of the platform were having issues into Tuesday.
Anti-poverty Centre spokesperson Kristin O’Connell said it was inevitable that the government, with its bad track record in rolling out technology, would launch a platform that had system issues that needed to be resolved.
“It’s really alarming because the government didn’t put out any information yesterday telling people to log on,” she said.
“It should be capable of handling the number of people who need to use it but it wasn’t even built to handle the number of people who logged onto it yesterday.”
Last week, Employment Minister Tony Burke announced tweaks to the incoming system to help Australians prepare for and then find work while also providing flexibility.
AUWU spokesperson Jeremy Poxon then called for Minister Burke to abolish the mutual obligations and have a more considerate approach to phasing out the JobActive platform so that job seekers wouldn’t be in the position they are currently in.
“He hasn’t listened, and the department has decided to go ahead and abruptly bring this new system in, without proper mass testing,” Mr Poxon said.
“This is what governments have felt they’ve been able to do—basically treat welfare recipients like lab rats, like some experiment.”