Media Release 27 May 2026 – employment services reform

Partnerships for Local Action and Community Empowerment (PLACE) welcomes The Hon. Amanda Rishworth MP announcement of employment services reform, and the discussion paper that accompanies it.

PLACE welcomes that the paper explicitly contemplates place-based mechanisms for local labour market coordination, intensive services delivered by community organisations with deep local presence, and commissioning that shifts weight onto provider capability, local connections, and the ability to deliver integrated and tailored support. There’s also a clear signal that Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations should play a stronger role in delivering culturally attuned support to First Nations job seekers.

“This is a serious attempt to move from standardised, one-size-fits-all delivery toward something genuinely responsive to local labour markets, local relationships, and the lived reality of communities,” said Dr Luke Craven, CEO of PLACE. “It reflects a growing recognition that better outcomes come from working with communities, rather than imposing one-size-fits-all approaches.”

“That’s a meaningful concession to what place-based practitioners have been arguing for years,” Dr Craven said. “The harder question, the one the consultation will need to grapple with, is how commissioning, contracting, and accountability arrangements are developed with community to actually shift this. Place-based intent has often run aground on procurement architecture designed for a different paradigm.”

Please read the full paper here: https://www.dewr.gov.au/employment-services-reform

For all communications and media queries, please contact media@placeaustralia.org

Download the Media Release 27 May 2026 PDF here