The job-first rationale underpinning the latest, and by far the most sweeping tranche of Australian welfare reform, is a both very radical and a largely undebated position. It is a policy deliberately designed to widen the pool of workforce 'participants' and also forms an integral part of the Government’s approach to demographic (structural) ageing. The approach of forcing people into 'any job, of any duration or quality' is not consistent with conventional notions of welfare policy. The policy is particularly problematic due to the increasingly deregulated industrial relations environment.