It is difficult to see how a dole diary will contribute anything towards preventing fraud or towards creating jobs. People seeking unemployment benefits already have to fulfil requirements to show they are actively seeking work. The completion of a dairy to be signed by employers will just add to paperwork.
Moreover, the dairy portrays a fairly romantic idea of the job market. It assumes that all work-seekers get an interview; that employers will be willing to sign a document that a certifies that an unemployed person has applied for a job. Most employers only interview a tiny fraction of those who apply. Many do not respond at all to those who do not make the cut. At the lower-skills end, most employers take the first suitable person and tell all the rest the job has gone. These are tough times; employers have neither the time nor inclination to do the police work for the Commonwealth Employment Service.
The imposition of a diary requirement above existing work-search requirements level seems more like a piece of politicking to prove the conservative parties are tough on “”dole-bludgers” than a genuine attempt to cut fraud … especially as there is no evidence that a diary would stop fraud or that fraud is a major problem.
Further, the diary idea shows muddled thinking. Before the election the Coalition ran on the theme that the cause of high employment was the Labor Government’s economic mismanagement. The notion that the unemployed need a diary to prove they are being diligent in their search for work seems to blame the unemployed themselves for their plight … if only they would look harder for a job they would find one.
The Government should concentrate on macro-economic policy and leave moralistic blame searching alone.