The Department of Social Services is investigating a video that appeared to depict a person believed to be a job agent at a South Australian employment agency allegedly telling someone on JobSeeker that it was their “own fault” that they were unemployed.
It’s unclear when exactly the incident occurred but video footage was posted by welfare rights activitist Jeremy Poxon on Monday.
In the video, the camera is aimed at the ceiling. But the audio appears to feature an employee of WISE Employment’s Kadina, South Australia office speaking to someone Poxon describes as a “job seeker”.
“I’m actually saying that it’s your fault because if you wanted a job you would’ve had one already, mate,” the person allegedly working at WISE is heard saying.
He further claimed that the unemployed person was “intimidating staff”.
holy shit: a job seeker has uploaded a video of him being bullied by a job agent at WISE Employment in Kadina (SA). You can hear the job agent say it’s the job seeker’s “own fault” that he’s unemployed + “if you wanted a job you would’ve had one already”. Mask off! pic.twitter.com/7ePwDfooId
— jeremy poxon (@JeremyPoxon) February 21, 2022
Poxon claims that the pair argued for roughly 20 minutes, and says that the person believed to be on JobSeeker then tried to leave the situation. But the person appearing to be a job agent then threatened to cut the unemployed person’s JobSeeker payment.
“I haven’t said it’s over yet,” the alleged job agent said.
“If you walk out without me saying when it’s time to stop, I won’t pass the appointment.”
“What a power trip,” said the person believed to be on JobSeeker.
“We just talked about vulnerable people and using their situation against them.
“You’re protecting your job and literally trying to manipulate me knowing that my life is dependent on you. And you know that and you get a hard-on from that.”
they argue like this for about 20 mins. Fed up, the job seeker then tries to leave, but the job agent threatens to cut off his payment + then says there’ll be an “incident report” about this sent to centrelink. here’s your employment services system, working as designed pic.twitter.com/letZh7YchE
— jeremy poxon (@JeremyPoxon) February 21, 2022
The person filming then walked out of the office as the voice appearing to belong to a job agent claimed that he’d be filing an “incident report” to Centrelink.
It is unclear what led to the altercation between the two parties.
A spokesperson for WISE Employment told PEDESTRIAN.TV that it was aware of the video. They said it was investigating the situation before providing any further comment.
“We prioritise the wellbeing of both our customers and our staff, and we’re taking the matter seriously,” they said.
The Department of Social Services said in a statement to SBS News that it would also be investigating “the alleged conduct in the videos”.
The spokesperson for the Department reportedly said it was unable to comment further at this stage and was unable to release any other information about the individual incident.
“The individual is encouraged to make contact with the National Customer Service Line on 1800 805 260 to raise any concerns they may have with their Employment Service Provider,” they told the outlet.
The Federal Government announced a hotline for employers to snitch on JobSeekers in February 2021. It sent a very clear message that the government favoured employers to the detriment of the poor.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported in January that only 4.2% of the population was unemployed. But that stat did not give what it needed to give because full-time employment decreased by 17,000 to 9,077,300 people as part-time employment increased by 30,000 to 4,177,600 people since March 2020.
