Thursday, 31 August 2023

Service Victoria

Peter WALSH (Murray Plains) (09:37): On behalf of the employees and employers of my electorate, I wish to point out how jobs are at risk because of the reams of paperwork demanded by bureaucratic inertia for the most simple of opportunities. I have one constituent who is on the verge of losing a job he has not even started because his police check has been in the system for 23 days – and counting. He is so desperate. He has had three tries at applying, with no luck, and his appeal for assistance received the following reply:

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission advises there is no definitive amount of time it takes to process a police check … it is always advisable to allow as much time as possible.

How long is a piece of string? Tell that to the employer, who has had a bus off the road for a month waiting for that check. The applicant, who is already on the Service Victoria register, has worked for both the ADF and the Shire of Campaspe. Right now the company’s only alternative is to ask existing drivers to extend their hours – always a risk factor. This man has brought his frustrations to my attention, rightly asking what happens if there is an accident, because he sees Service Victoria and the national police check system being partly responsible for failing to have adequate staff to process this application on time. He should have started work as a bus driver this week. Instead, he is waiting to hear whether he will have a job or not – from a check that is mandated by the Victorian government.