Unemployed people face the loss of payments as a punishment for spamming employers with unsatisfactory applications to meet tough job search rules, the Abbott government has warned.



Business groups have raised concerns that employers could be inundated with poorly targeted applications as a result of a requirement for job seekers to make 40 attempts each month from July next year.

Job listing websites allow people to send their resumes to a range of prospective bosses quickly.

The assistant minister for employment, Luke Hartsuyker, said employment service providers would monitor job search efforts and “initiate compliance actions against job seekers whose efforts are clearly unsatisfactory or non-genuine”.

Hartsuyker said existing rules required job seekers to make a genuine effort to look for work, with an assessment based on the search efforts, the number of applications, the range of positions sought and the methods utilised.

“Job seekers who do not make satisfactory job search efforts, including not diversifying their efforts to approach a range of employers and use a range of job search techniques, can be subject to compliance action, including ultimately financial penalties,” he said in a statement.

“Under the Employment Services 2015 model, job search efforts will be monitored in a similar way. Providers will be able to initiate compliance actions against job seekers whose efforts are clearly unsatisfactory or non-genuine, resulting in payment suspensions or possible loss of payment.

“Job seekers can utilise technology to make job seeking more efficient, but may be penalised if it can be shown that their use of technology is not part of a genuine effort to find work (for example, if they are using online tools to indiscriminately spam employers with applications).”

On Monday the employment minister, Eric Abetz, conceded the government’s proposed 40-application target each month risked becoming a “box-ticking” exercise, and he promised to listen to business feedback.