NESA Annual Report- 2021/22

NESA was established 25 years ago in 1997, following the release of the Government’s Reforming Employment Assistance paper, which outlined Australia’s bold plan to move to an outsourced model of public employment services. A core group of providers recognised the value of collaboration and the need for capacity building in this new era and formed NESA. Their underlying principle was to ensure the sector had strong representative support and an influential voice.

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Question:

How does NESA’s collaborations help them create the future?

Hear from Sally Sinclair

CEO Sally Sinclair met with Minister Tony Burke, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for the Arts, Leader of the House, to provide a preliminary briefing on NESA and discuss NESA’s recommendations to support the transition to Workforce Australia.

Collaboration
with Government

NESA has strong formal and informal
relationships with key stakeholders and strategic partners. There is a shared goal to see full employment, so all Australians have an opportunity to secure quality and sustainable work, and no one is left behind as Australia’s workforce and economy evolves.

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Collaboration with Departmental Advisory and Working Groups

NESA’s representation on numerous employment services departmental advisory bodies and working groups has positioned us as the strong voice on the transition to Workforce Australia, the proposed New Disability Employment Support Model and the future policy and program design for the new Remote Engagement Program which will replace the Community Development Program.

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Plans 22/23 Engagement
 & Advancement

As we move into 2022-2023 members can be assured NESA will continue strong representation and advocacy to support and enhance our sector:

  • Engage with the Albanese government and the Opposition to achieve collaborative outcomes that will strengthen the sector.
  • Close collaborative relations with relevant departments and agencies to advance program, systems contractual arrangements, and operational networks within the employment services landscape.
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Creating the future
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NESA acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the traditional owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land and sea. We pay our respects to their culture and to their elders, past, present and emerging.

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Collaboration

NESA was established 25 years ago in 1997, following the release of the Government’s Reforming Employment Assistance paper, which outlined Australia’s bold plan to move to an outsourced model of public employment services. A core group of providers recognised the value of collaboration and the need for capacity building in this new era and formed NESA. Their underlying principle was to ensure the sector had strong representative support and an influential voice.

Collaboration continues to be the corner stone of what NESA stands for and is evident in the number of strategic alliances both formal and informal NESA has built and nurtured over the past two and a half decades. These relationships are also responsible for the organisation’s continual representation on high-level advisory bodies and working groups.

NESA’s engagement with Ministers, Shadow Ministers, and executive departmental representatives and its representation on government advisory bodies and working groups ensures the employment services sector is well represented by a strong and influential voice on all aspects of government reform. This representation is crucial in advancing the sector’s key challenges and issues as well as progressing improvements in labour market policies and programs.

Collaboration
with government

NESA has strong formal and informal relationships with key stakeholders and strategic partners. There is a shared goal to see full employment, so all Australians have an opportunity to secure quality and sustainable work, and no one is left behind as Australia’s workforce and economy evolves.

From the past to the current administration, NESA has valued the opportunities to meet with Ministers, and Shadow Ministers whose portfolio responsibilities included employment, workforce participation, social services, Indigenous Australians, youth, and skills and training. Discussions around sectoral challenges, and proposals of evidence-based solutions aim to achieve the best possible outcome for government and the sector.

During the past year, as flood disasters affected many regional areas, NESA held vital meetings with the advisors for the Minister responsible for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience to discuss measures and supports for providers delivering employment services in the affected areas.

CEO Sally Sinclair met with Minister Tony Burke, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for the Arts, Leader of the House, to provide a preliminary briefing on NESA and discuss NESA’s recommendations to support the transition to Workforce Australia.

Collaboration
with Departmental
Advisory and
Working Groups

NESA’s representation on numerous employment services departmental advisory bodies and working groups has positioned us as the strong voice on the transition to Workforce Australia, the proposed New Disability Employment Support Model and the future policy and program design for the new Remote Engagement Program which will replace the Community Development Program.

For Workforce Australia NESA’s representation was predominantly to be an influential voice on the Workforce Australia transition arrangements and subsequent supporting frameworks such as the Provider Performance Framework and the IT systems.

NESA actively advocated on behalf of members and provided them with assistance as they managed the impacts from the outcomes of the procurement with many members having to recalibrate business commitments such as staffing and leases as a result of those outcomes.

For Disability Employment Services the emphasis of NESA’s representation on the departmental advisory bodies and working groups was to work effectively with the Department of Social Services (DSS) to address any issues identified with the proposed New Disability Employment Support Model and shape the conversation around the best structure to improve employment outcomes for people with disability.

NESA also worked closely and collaboratively with fellow disability employment peak bodies to achieve unified positions which strengthened NESA’s advocacy for the development of a program that will deliver the best possible outcomes for people with disability, their families and communities.

For the Community Development Program (CDP), NESA worked tirelessly with CDP providers and the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) to identify key issues and engage in consultation on future policy and program design.

There was also extensive discussion regarding the design and development of the new Indigenous Skills and Employment Program.

NESA attended the regular national CDP Provider meetings, held monthly meetings with key NIAA personnel, met with the CEO and Deputy CEO of NIAA and contributed to the discussion at all roundtables and consultation sessions.

NESA’s engagement with the Department of Health was primarily in relation to the department’s work on violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation of people with disability.

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Supporting People
With Disability
People with disability in Australia face considerable inequity and disadvantage in realising their human rights and ambitions to live a normal life. For many people living with a disability, economic exclusion is experienced alongside social exclusion.

The Disability Employment Services (DES) program was introduced to support people with disability find and keep a job, and from 1 March 2010 the program has undergone transformation through a range of significant changes. These include those introduced in the 2018 reforms which had the objective of increasing program performance. Continuing with this transformation through reform approach, government in consultation with key stakeholders is developing a new disability employment services program to improve the employment outcomes of people with disability.

NESA has advocated for the design of the new program to be evidenced based to ensure it delivers the best possible outcomes for people with disability, their families and their communities.

United with a shared purpose, NESA has been working collaboratively with the other disability employment peak bodies for the betterment of future disability employment supports and policy and program settings.