Nesa Annual Report 2022-23

Co-design

NESA is the voice of the employment services sector. NESA brings together our diverse membership to leverage their extensive expertise and experience in the management and delivery of labour market assistance. NESA forums play a critical role in the co-design of our policy platform to ensure our members’ voices are amplified.

CEO Forums

The CEO and Leadership Forums continue to bring together sector leadership to discuss developments and issues affecting employment services to inform NESA representation and advocacy on behalf of the sector.

During the 2022-2023 year NESA held 3 CEO Forums which were well attended. The CEO Forums included member caucus sessions on significant policy directions including the Employment White Paper and the House Select Committee Inquiry into Workforce Australia. NESA CEO forums featured a range of Government and non Government guest speakers presenting on various topics of relevance to the sector.

Special
Interest Groups

Through NESA’s Special Interest Groups (SIGs), our members meet to exchange experiences and perspectives about the various issues, trends and challenges related to the implementation and delivery of employment services. NESA’s SIGs also provide an opportunity to directly engage with relevant Departments to highlight key concerns, share frontline experiences of implementing government policy and to co-design practical solutions.

In 2022-2023, NESA’s SIG membership was extensive. 72% of member organisations had a representative on one or more of our SIGs and over 200 individual representatives participated.

NESA hosted 20 SIG meetings over the year including:

  • Employability Skills Training/Career Transition Assistance
  • ParentsNext
  • Transition to Work
  • IT Reference and Reports Working Group
  • Cyber Security
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CDP Provider Forums

The Community Development Program (CDP) is a remote employment and community development service administered by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA). CDP aims to support job seekers in remote Australia to build skills, address barriers to employment and contribute to their communities through activities and training.

NESA held various forums with our CDP provider members during 2022 -2023 with an active focus on the future of the program with consultation and trials to design the next remote employment program model underway through this period. NESA actively engaged with NIAA to represent and elevate the voice of CDP provider members.

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Nesa Annual Report 2022-23

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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Special Interest Groups

Employability Skills Training / Career Transition Assistance

Through the NESA Employability Skills Training (EST) SIG, members shared service delivery experiences under the Workforce Australia framework. Of note, were the implications for EST Placement Management Services resulting from the cessation of the New Work Experience Program and PaTH Internship Program. In addition, the program saw significant challenges with referral and commencements that were much lower than the indicative numbers published in the Request for Proposal.

NESA provided strong advocacy in relation to the ‘reasonable costs’ framework when the decision was made by Government to discontinue Placement Management Services. NESA and SIG members worked collaboratively with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations to identify referral obstacles and improve participant connections to the program with a number of improvements delivered as a result.

Through this SIG, NESA and its members were able to articulate the need and advocate for the implementation and continuation of ‘flexible’ service delivery arrangements. These arrangements enabled providers to continue service delivery under the changed operating conditions. Member feedback cited the outcomes of NESA’s advocacy regarding the reasonable cost framework and flexible service delivery as a critical success.

ParentsNext

ParentsNext underwent significant transformation in May 2023 when the government announced immediate transition of ParentsNext to a voluntary participation model following the interim report of the Select Committee Inquiry into Workforce Australia Services.

NESA’s ParentNext SIG met with the Department to discuss the impacts and implications of the new arrangements. Our members provided suggested strategies to ensure those parents who have most potential to benefit continued to connect with this valuable program. NESA will continue to strongly advocate for improvement to current arrangements to address engagement and other challenges. NESA will also advocate that ParentsNext replacement program is co-designed with participants and our members who have extensive service delivery expertise to contribute.

Transition to Work

The Transition to Work (TTW) SIG met throughout the year exchanging experiences of the strengths and challenges of the program.

The TTW SIG collaborated with the Department to resolve issues providing potential solutions to address a range of impediments to program delivery. These challenges included referral of eligible and suitable TTW clients, performance management, manual claims, and reporting functionality.

IT Reference and Reporting Working Group

The IT Reference and Reporting Working Group has been meeting for 20 years, and continues to bring together the sectors data and reporting experts to work through systems and reporting requirements essential to the efficient and effective delivery of employment services.

During the 2022-2023 year, this group worked intensively to provide feedback on the systems and reporting functionality of the new Workforce Australia for Providers platform and advocate for enhancements with the Department.

Cyber security

Launched in December 2022, our member’s information security experts come together though the Cyber Security SIG to share information about cyber security challenges and solutions. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relation’s Right Fit for Risk (RFFR) team also regularly attend meetings providing opportunity for exchange about the operational needs and challenges implementing cyber security policies.

In 2022-2023, membership of NESA’s Cyber Security SIG grew rapidly to 60 members and NESA was pleased to welcome a number of Community Development Program (CDP) providers to the group as they began their journey to RFFR accreditation.

CDP Provider Forums

With the change of government, the Hon Linda Burney, Minister for Indigenous Australians, indicated that she was seeking to design a new program with First Nation’s people. The Minister met with our members at a NESA CDP Forum in Canberra in July at which she heard feedback, strategies, and options for reform from our delegates.

NESA discussed options for a new remote employment program at a Roundtable with the Minister in October 2022.

From April 2023 NESA engaged members in intensive co-design to shape the future of CDP through our forums.

View the CDP Provider Feedback Document
Nesa Annual Report 2022-23