Submission. Premier s Jobs and Investment Panel. Southern Melbourne RDA Committee

Transcription

1 Submission Premier s Jobs and Investment Panel Southern Melbourne RDA Committee August 2017

2 Introduction This submission references the outcomes of a study undertaken by the Southern Melbourne Regional Development Australia Committee (RDA) in It proposes an alternative approach to reducing unemployment with a place based approach. It proposes reform in the form of an action based, rather than programmatic model, with practical actions to increase economic participation for unemployed people. The Southern Melbourne RDA Committee As one of 55 RDA Committees across Australia, the Southern Melbourne RDA provides responses to economic, infrastructure and social issues affecting Melbourne's southern region by building partnerships across the three levels of government, local industry, community organisations and other stakeholders. The RDA is an important link between the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments, the 10 local government authorities (LGAs) of Bayside, Casey, Cardinia, Frankston, Glen Eira, Greater Dandenong, Kingston, Mornington Peninsula, Port Phillip and Stonnington and the many regional stakeholders. The RDA s core business is to develop a regional framework to support economic growth and participation and a regional plan is prepared on a tri annual basis to identify strategies for this growth. The Regional Plan is supported by data from the ABS and National Economics, by state and local strategies and by RDA evidence based research, consultation and reports. The current Plan identifies five priorities for the southern Melbourne RDA region and proposes strategies to address them. Addressing disadvantage is identified as one of the five key priorities in the current regional plan. The Southern Melbourne Region Southern Melbourne is Melbourne s key economic region. It accounts for one third of the employed in metropolitan Melbourne and a quarter of its GDP. It is only eclipsed by the high value added from the City of Melbourne LGA which contains the CBD. With a population of 1.4 million people, and municipalities which are urban, peri urban and rural, the region has a wide variety of attributes: Established, densely populated inner urban areas in the south west of the region; A highly industrialised manufacturing belt across the municipalities of Kingston, Greater Dandenong and Casey. Rapidly expanding population growth in the south east of the region A large population of migrants and refugees Pockets of high unemployment and disadvantage. The southern region has some of most disadvantaged suburbs in Melbourne. Suburbs with high SEIFA scores are Doveton, Frankston North and Rosebud West. Greater Dandenong has a SEIFA index of 895 and an education and occupation index of 927, making it the most disadvantaged and fourth least educated LGA in Victoria; Frankston repeats this level of socio-economic disadvantage with a 997 SEIFA index. 1 Additionally at risk are LGAs such as Casey and Cardinia because of their relative isolation, lack of local employment and lack of access to public transport for residents. Additional points to note: High unemployment is the key characteristic of the most disadvantaged areas. Those living in the top 3% of postcodes for disadvantage are three times more likely to be long-term unemployed. One third of Victorian humanitarian refugees move to the City of Greater Dandenong annually. 1 ABS Census of Population & Housing: Socio-economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), 2011 SEIFA is primarily used to rank areas according to socio-economic advantage and disadvantage based on census data. Lower scores indicate more disadvantaged areas and higher scores indicate more advantaged areas. 2

3 Across the region, there are a number of common factors that contribute to disadvantage: Lack of Access to Employment A range of elements make households vulnerable to adverse economic shocks. A total of 34% of the region s low-income households suffer mortgage or rental stress. Household disadvantage is caused by a complex range of factors, but a key factor is job accessibility, i.e. how many jobs are available, how close they are and how much competition exists for them. Lack of Access to Public Transport Lack of transport connectivity and social isolation are significant issues in the outer south east Melbourne suburbs. The burgeoning population and urban growth of outer south east Melbourne presents critical challenges for this region and its residents. High Unemployment Rates Whilst the average unemployment rate across the southern region is similar to the metropolitan average, this masks the real inequalities. Unemployment is much higher than average in Greater Dandenong which has 12% unemployment, with the suburb of Dandenong itself having 20.9% unemployment. There are also smaller pockets of disadvantage to be found across the entire region, for example Doveton, Frankston and Rosebud West. High Numbers of Refugees and Migrants The City of Greater Dandenong is the most culturally diverse LGA in Victoria, and the second most diverse in Australia, with residents from over 150 different birthplaces. Well over half (60%) of its population is born overseas, and 55% are from nations where English is not the main spoken language, in comparison to the Melbourne average of 26%. Whilst refugees and asylum seekers are proportionally a small percentage of the regional population, they have high needs and require intense assistance. Access to education, language, housing, employment and isolation are all serious issues for them and are issues which can lead to entrenched disadvantage. Youth Unemployment Low education and skills attainment has been cited by employers and service providers as a primary cause of poor employment outcomes for Dandenong and Frankston s young people. Frankston has high proportions of youth disengagement, with only 36% of the resident population having completed Year 12. Nearly a quarter of 15 to 19 year olds in Dandenong and Frankston are not involved in study, work or further training, compared to the Victorian average of 15.4%. Study Undertaken by the Southern Melbourne RDA As previously indicated, the RDA identified disadvantage as one of the key priorities to address in its Regional Plan. In late 2016, it commissioned The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TASCI) to undertake a study 2. Its purpose was to research the nature of disadvantage and the way in which it manifests for local residents. In particular, the RDA wanted to understand the links between disadvantage and how it restricts economic participation in south east Melbourne. Initial work undertaken by TASCI identified that disadvantage expressed itself very differently in each of the south east Melbourne municipalities, with diverse causes and consequences. The study therefore focusses on a single municipality (Greater Dandenong). Nevertheless, the recommendations propose a model which can equally be applied to examining other municipalities and regions. The advantage of the single focus for the RDA study is that it enables a much deeper exploration of how disadvantage could be addressed in this area rather than a broad brush overview of the whole region. 2 Addressing Disadvantage in Southern Melbourne: Towards Outcomes, TASCI, June

4 Reform Direction Addressed: Workforce This submission proposes a model which proposes to reform the way we deal with disadvantaged cohorts. It aims to increase workforce participation rates from groups such as long term unemployed, migrants and disengaged youth. In this particular instance, the model focusses on a single municipality, but as previously observed it is a model which can be used as a template in other municipalities or regions. Implementation of the model would involve: Taking a place based approach Taking a systemic rather than singular approach Using an action based rather than programmatic model Involving a range of stakeholders, including employers Summary of Problem The study being referenced investigated entrenched disadvantage in the municipality of Greater Dandenong. In particular, it explored the links between disadvantage, the barriers it presents for economic participation and the impediments it creates for residents employment. The study found that: Disadvantage in south east Melbourne is complex. It is connected with unemployment, lower levels of post school qualifications, lower completion rates and higher levels of disengagement. There are pockets of extreme disadvantage in south east Melbourne which are significantly higher than the Victorian and Australian average. Greater Dandenong is a case in point with unemployment rates sitting at between 10.5% and 11% over the past 5 years. At least 180 programs, service providers and projects seek to address aspects of disadvantage in Greater Dandenong, yet the level of disadvantage and the unemployment rate remains steadfastly high. The levels of disadvantage are increasing as is the unemployment rate; yet the multiple services and programs seem to make no tangible difference to the statistics. Greater Dandenong has the highest number of jobs available in the region, but the lowest numbers of residents participating in employment. The study highlighted the following six interconnected issues as ones that enable and entrench disadvantage and inhibit job seekers from participating in the workforce: i. People are both car dependent and car disadvantaged: - Greater Dandenong has low levels of car ownership and low numbers of people who hold a driver s license - there is no public transport to areas that are job rich such as the Dandenong south industry precinct ii. Manufacturing can provide many opportunities for employment: - manufacturing is the largest employer in the region and is growing despite the closure of the automotive industry and media reports that it is dying - many employers have difficulty finding workers, even in unskilled and semi-skilled positions 4

5 iii. Employment services are not focussed on disadvantage: - employment services are not equipped to deal with disadvantaged jobseekers - services are designed for people who are job ready not those who are job disengaged iv. Networks are crucial for job seekers and employers: - social networks facilitate participation in the economy - disadvantaged jobseekers have less access to networks which can provide informal information about jobs - employers often fill vacancies though their employees networks v. The system is broken: - the service system is complex and fragmented - services are output rather than outcome based - services rarely cross pollinate or collaborate - services are focussed on intervention rather than prevention vi. Not funding outcomes comes at a cost: - current commissioning models are output and transaction focussed - service providers overlap in purpose, geographic coverage and target groups - evaluation of success is limited to outputs during the period of the program - all these factors inhibit real learning about how to deal with disadvantage Specific Actions and Implementation The study uncovered nothing new. It found that disadvantage is systemic and entwines factors that relate to individuals with structural inequities. It also found that addressing the issue requires a multifaceted, systemic approach rather than seeking simple answers, such as a single program, to what is a complex set of issues. TASCI recommend a response which takes as its starting point the interconnected nature of the six issues and which takes a prototyping approach to responding to these issues. The issues are overlapping, interconnected and complex to address in isolation from each other. TASCI notes that there are unlikely to be significant shifts or reductions in disadvantage whilst the standard approach is singular responses to complex issues. To date, the major gap in responding to place-based disadvantage has been the lack of systemic and holistic responses. The reform approach proposed is that any future response takes a systemic approach to addressing disadvantage. TASCI recommends prototyping rather than piloting potential interventions/solutions. Prototyping recognises there are no off the shelf solutions to addressing disadvantage, and that what is required is deeper learning about what works rather than piloting programs for quick results. Despite data that provides a picture of what disadvantage is, there is relatively little validated data about how to address disadvantage, except at a programmatic level (and much of this is not publicly available). What is needed to appropriately respond is a try, test, learn approach, which proposes a set of responses and then tests them. The reform model being proposed is place based. In other words it is bespoke to the particular needs of that municipality/region. It involves implementing the model as a series of interconnected interventions/mini projects/partnerships. The interventions/projects are action based and provide learnings that can be quickly refined for workable responses and solutions. 5

6 The interconnected prototypes - as recommended by TASCI for Greater Dandenong - are as follows: I. Develop on demand community transport for transport disadvantaged jobseekers: - examine how on-demand community transport options could reduce disengagement, disadvantage and unemployment. II. Attract jobseekers to manufacturing via a campaign which reframes the dirty, dumb and dangerous, stereotype: - explore a distributed campaign to attract jobseekers to local manufacturing, reframing it as making, linking it with the maker movement and highlighting how it is strong and growing in Greater Dandenong. III. Assist jobseekers to build networks with employers that have vacancies: - create ways to build bridges between jobseekers with few networks and employers with ongoing vacancies. IV. Create a demand driven, person centred career support model outside of schools: - develop and test the potential for a demand driven, person centred model of career support across the lifespan. V. Review the hiring practices of employers so that they can fill entry level positions: - explore, with employers, the redesign of hiring processes for impact both in terms of assisting local employers to fill vacancies with suitable employees and to find pathways into quality jobs for local people disadvantages in the labour market. VI. Develop a collaborative local commissioning model to generate more effective outcomes: - reassess the local service system which services jobseekers and employers by planning, agreeing to and monitoring services with relevant local stakeholders. Implementation Process The intent is to progress each prototype towards trial stage with clear business, investment and evaluation strategies which will enable successful decision-making regarding their suitability for a broader piloting of approaches and model/s, and will provide a quantifiable evidence base for the relevant stakeholders to seek investment for such pilots. A number of the six prototypes will begin with desk-top research and stakeholder interviews which will help to better understand local and international examples and contexts before beginning the work with local stakeholders to design and test prototypes which will suit and benefit the local context. TASCI has provided a detailed implementation plan with costings for each prototype. This does not form part of this submission and will not be provided unless the Premier s Jobs and Investment Panel specifically identifies this submission s reform idea as one which it wishes to pursue. 6