Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this bill before the House, the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Green Army Programme) Bill 2014, and the second reading amendment. This bill is to amend the Social Security Act 1991 and the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 to enable a payment of a Green Army allowance. The bill provides for a commencement date of 1 July 2014 and provides for the insertion of a definition of both the program and the allowance. The bill asserts that participants of the Green Army program cannot receive a social security benefit or pension but, rather, will be paid an allowance. This allowance is aligned with the national training wage.

However, participants in this scheme are not even considered workers or employees under the Work Health and Safety Act, the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act or the Fair Work Act, as the bill provides for exemptions from all of these acts. On this side of the House, we find it rather grave and concerning that these particular protections are not in place. I am further concerned by the potential risk of job losses or cost shifting within organisations that successfully tender for this program. Whilst in principle the opposition do of course support programs that provide young unemployed Australians an opportunity to gain work experience, and of course we do support a program that has environmental benefits, there are still many wide-ranging issues and concerns that we have about this program. Indeed, many of these concerns were outlined much earlier in the amendment moved by the shadow minister, the member for Port Adelaide.

This program also exposes that the government do not understand or have in place feasible employment and training strategies and plans. We saw that highlighted last night in the budget, with some of the many cuts that were announced. In particular, we saw, in relation to younger people, that the government are slashing a further $1 billion in investment in skills and training by abolishing a whole range of very important programs for our young people. These programs were particularly around apprenticeships, as well. So we know they are not concerned about effectively training young people. This also exposes the fact that the government completely lack a coherent environmental policy. I will deal with that later, but in the budget we also saw a whole range of programs that were cut, funding that was cut and a whole lot of promises that were broken in the area of environmental programs.

On the other hand, the Labor Party has a proud history of protecting both the environment and the economy by creating jobs and protecting longstanding working conditions. Balancing these important factors, indeed, can be a difficult and challenging task—a task that the Abbott government clearly struggles to understand with this Green Army program legislation.

If we look at the Green Army program, it is essentially designed to act as a work experience program. It is a program containing no opportunity for real skill advancement. It lacks training provisions and there is no recognisable certification upon completion. No job search requirements will apply to this program and there are no adequate training components to really enhance long-term employability. It is a work experience program that lacks any assurances that participants will be working or training in safe and regulated environments. Of course, under this bill, participants will not be afforded adequate protections. They will not have the right to seek compensation under federal law for workplace injuries. Make no mistake about this. This is not a program designed to protect the environment; it is not a program designed to combat climate change; and, certainly, it is not a program designed to offer effective and proper training, particularly for younger people.

The first rendition of the Green Army program was originally instituted by the Howard government in 1997 as Green Corps. It was a Work for the Dole program for the long-term unemployed. The Green Corps program included a provision for volunteers. This program did not require legislation and participants received standard unemployment payments and all associated contingent benefit payments. The program required 134 hours of accredited training and participants also had access to a $500 payment during the six months post-participation for additional training. The program has been changed at various points from 1999 to 2007, including the early removal of the $500 additional training payment.

In 2009, following amendments under the Rudd government, the scheme became known as the National Green Jobs Corp. The program provided 130 hours of accredited training, assisting participants to gain a qualification. Workers received standard unemployment payments and the associated contingent benefit payments they were entitled to. Labor agrees that environmental-based work and training programs can be an effective pathway to work for many job seekers as well as potentially providing some environmental benefits. However, it is not in any way a substitute for sound and protected employment strategies. As was highlighted by the budget last night, these are strategies which this government is lacking. Workplace training programs should be targeted, effective and measurable.

We, on this side of the House, know that we should be doing everything we can to get people into work. That requires providing effective training, particularly for our young people. Everyone who wants to work should be given the opportunity to work and to get effective training to enable them to better access those employment opportunities. We know that that can only happen if you have appropriate support structures in place. Labor believes in helping people get a job through the right training and incentives and, most importantly, through an appropriate level of support and workplace protection. As I mentioned, the bill proposed by the government omits much of the detail required on workers' rights, benefits and protection. For instance, access to formally recognised training delivered by a registered training organisation under the Australian qualifications framework is an optional component of the proposed program, to be negotiated with each participant. This does not give us in opposition or the participants in the program any confidence that people will gain access to training.

There are a great many questions that remain unanswered by this government regarding the Green Army. For instance, how will the program support participants moving into mainstream employment? Will there be minimum training outcomes? If so, what are they? Will there be minimum training hours? What protections will there be to ensure no paid jobs are lost due to the Green Army programs and no cost shifting takes place within the Green Army units?

Overall, this bill provides an example of what the Liberal and National parties do best. They rip away awards and protections for employees and trainees and do nothing to ensure long-lasting realistic measures to protect our environment effectively. The government will have you believe that this is an environmentally sound jobs initiative designed to combat climate change. However, the fact remains the Abbott government completely lacks any environmental credibility. The Liberal-National Party has a very long history of cutting environmental protection legislation. For example, it has actively pursued the destruction of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, it has looked to abolish the Climate Change Authority, it has voted against putting a price on carbon, and it has voted against and worked to remove the Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network, which was expanded in 2012 to create the world's largest network of national parks in our oceans—a great achievement which has been undermined. We know that the federal Liberal-National Party government are looking to pursue the expansion of coal seam gas mining in New South Wales. This is a very big issue in my electorate that I will touch on later on.

We know that there is this long history of environmental vandalism from this government at the federal level, but that is the case at the state level as well. This is reflected in my electorate of Richmond through the concerns its residents have. The New South Wales state government has failed to act on environmental matters and has failed to protect our environment. They are allowing shooting in our national parks, an issue of major concern to many people in my electorate on the North Coast. They are also removing marine parks and failing to protect important coastal reserves like Lot 490 at Kingscliff that I have spoken about before. There is a lot of concern in my electorate about the lack of environmental credibility and the acts of what people refer to as environmental vandalism by the state government. One of the biggest environmental issues showing the lack of awareness of this government is the expansion of coal seam gas mining in my electorate. State National Party MPs are actively pursuing the expansion of the coal seam gas industry by unconventional gas mining on the New South Wales north coast. The community has many concerns about this. Particularly, we feel that it is unsafe. The impact on the health of residents and the environmental impacts are unsafe. We are also concerned about how it will affect us economically through the growth of an industry like coal seam gas mining or unconventional gas mining.

We have a current situation of grave concern at a place called Bentley, which is just outside Lismore. It is the site at which a company by the name of Metgasco is seeking to undertake some exploration of unconventional gas mining. We have hundreds and sometimes even thousands of locals who are camping just outside of there. They comprise a cross-section of people: farmers, retired people, younger children, and mums and dads. They come from throughout the area. There are hundreds of people camping on private land right near the site, all very concerned about the fact that Metgasco may start drilling there. Of greater concern are reports that the New South Wales state government, under the direction of the National Party, intend sending 900 riot police over the coming days to break up a peaceful blockade of people who are on a private farm and are very concerned about what is potentially about to occur there. These people are committed to staying there and making their voices heard. I have grave concerns if these riot police are sent there as the new New South Wales Premier is insisting he will do.

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