I was delighted to hear from the Ministers office that the DES Transition process is moving smoothly ahead. Come Monday, all will be well.
So the following story must be fictional:
Fred is an indigenous job seeker with a disability. Fred loves physical activity and he has energy to burn – his interests focus around sport and things sporting. For more than 6 months “AVON” his specialist employment service has been negotiating a traineeship with the Areas leading gym
A job match made in heaven. His new ‘to-be employer loves Fred and are keen to get him on board – this is an award wage, full time position.
Fred is transitioning to a new service provider with AVON having lost the local contract after 15 years outstanding service delivery. AVON has been replaced by services, ‘better able to demonstrate they meet the needs of the job seekers” (sounds good rhetoric that is totally divorced from the reality of conditions on the ground).
Most of the AVON staff have moved on, leaving the industry with their experience and local knowledge – however the remaining workers were called by the training organisation who were to work with Fred, his employer and new DES provider to complete the academic part of his traineeship. They wanted to know if Fred was cooling off, they could not get in contact with him.
Fred receives mentorship support from a local Indigenous service (it’s well delivered). This service also holds a Job Services Australia contract (JSA). The new disability employment ‘specialist’ also holds a JSA contract.
They (the Indigenous Employment Service and new DES provider) are therefore ‘competitors’.
Apparently, the new DES manager has stated she will not work with this competitor.
We’ve tried, the RTO have tried and now Fred’s family are trying to get these fools to work together. Fred needs the support of the Indigenous Mentor Program and he needs the on-going workplace support of a DES. Without these things he will fail in his traineeship - with them he will succeed.
That's not going to happen.
The truth is that the new provider should never have been given the opportunity to so effectively ruin lives. This is not a place where such a chance comes twice.
Because I know that this blog gets read by some who can make change I am happy to supply names, dates, time and place and CRN so you can see for yourselves the tip of this tragic iceberg . This is not smooth transition.
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