Is the government really overhauling employment services?

Amanda Rishworth speaks about proposed changes to the employment services system at the National Press Club on May 27. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

Is the Albanese government planning the biggest shake-up to the employment services system in 30 years?

With big fanfare, its announcement gave the impression that something big and positive was happening, that finally, a government in Canberra was going to fix a broken system.

But when Amanda Rishworth, the federal employment minister, delivered a speech to the National Press Club about it, it was unclear if the government's major "shake-up" of employment services was going to be as momentous as claimed.

Under the proposal, unemployed Australians seeking assistance would be placed into three tailored support tiers.

Under its proposed plan, the long-term unemployed will hopefully get more intensive support to help them get back into the labour force.

But its plan won't require legislative change. It won't abolish mutual obligations. It will still rely on private job agencies to find work for jobseekers (while paying them "incentive payments" to put effort into the task).

So, major elements of our employment services system won't be changing at all.

Like the ancient paradox about the Ship of Theseus, if you replace every part of a ship over time (its mast, sails, ropes, and hull), but you adhere to the original design of the ship, can you say the ship is new?

Do you want to see what a genuine shake-up of the system looks like?

Australia used to have a federally funded "employment service" that found jobs for people across the country.

It was called the Commonwealth Employment Service (CES). It was established in 1946. Its staff did not need "incentive payments" to encourage them to help the unemployed find work. They helped people find work because it was their job. And they helped successive governments deliver full employment for three decades after World War II.

The Commonwealth Employment Service fell out of government favour in the late 1980s and was privatised in 1998, leaving many former staff mourning what was once possible.

But that publicly run job brokerage was eventually privatised.

In 1998, the Howard government introduced the Job Network, which downsized labour market programs, deregulated the training market, and encouraged providers from the private and community sectors to compete to find jobs for the unemployed. It deliberately undermined the CES, which died a slow death.

It also introduced Work for the Dole programs, and it intensified the use of "mutual obligations", which forced