Employment

A parliamentary inquiry has laid the foundations for government to reinvent unemployment services, finding the system has become obsessed with "kicking people off welfare", instead of helping them.

The government-dominated committee, established in the weeks after the government's 2022 federal election win, has called for a shift away from intense compliance measures and the return of some privatised job services to government.

Its chair, Julian Hill, said the ground-up review was the first of its kind since employment services were privatised 25 years ago.

Mr Hill wrote that in that time, the sector had degraded into a system that was not helping people find work and was neglecting employers.

"It's harsh but true to say Australia no longer has an effective coherent national employment services system," Mr Hill wrote.