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The Australian Government has created a privatised employment placement market, introduced new 'mutual obligation' programs, and has embarked on radical changes in the social security system, all changes which affect Australia's unemployed. This paper does not assess the relative merits of these individual policies but contributes another perspective by contrasting the emerging Australian approach with the British 'new deals' for the unemployed. This has value not just because of the long tradition of policy transfer between both countries but because since 1997 the British system has gone through a remarkable period of innovation and renewal. The paper draws on a broad range of documentary and other evidence to explore the strengths and weaknesses of both systems. While acknowledging the difficulty of drawing out the lessons that one country specific approach may have for another the paper arrives at the following conclusions: Centrelink has demonstrated that it is a high performance, innovative public sector agency but the Australian system needs a stronger, more direct personal and administrative connection between benefit eligibility, job search and participation in labour market programs; the Australian system relies on automated program referrals which may be technically sophisticated but are not getting the message across to significant numbers of clients causing excessive breaching; the most basic function of an employment service is to provide access to vacancies and other labour market information; unemployed Australians are able to access notified vacancies through a computerised system but Job Matching providers usually retain the details which may mean physically registering with several providers in different locations, causing inconvenience and confusion; the Job Network may secure more cost effective results but many providers focus solely on entry level jobs and the majority of 'intensive assistance' participants return to unemployment; both in the UK and Australia the significant role of broad government, community and other stakeholder partnerships has been emphasised if welfare reform is to become a worthwhile reality but the Australian employment assistance and participation system is competitive and fragmented, partnership arrangements are weak, and there are few linkages between federal and state programs; the emerging Australian system is sending mixed messages to the unemployed and those working with them by means of the combination of selective employment assistance, participation focused mutual obligation requirements, and various exemptions and exclusions, creating a confusing and complex hybrid especially for the younger long term unemployed. The British 'new deal' offers no simple answers, but the progress made does illustrate the gains that can come from a comprehensive approach to all those who reach a certain duration of unemployment. Introducing employment advisors into Centrelink and systematically combining existing job search, employment assistance, Work for the Dole and training programs into a comprehensive employment focused system could start to deliver something like a new deal for Australia's long term unemployed.