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

I rise to speak on the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment and Other Measures) Bill 2015. At the outset, those of us on this side of the House are very keen to support young people finding employment; we do not demonise them. So often we hear from the government side a succession of speakers who demonise and attack young people. We on this side want to support young people—we want to help them find jobs and make sure they have good long-term jobs for the future.

The measures in this bill continue the Abbott government's cruel attack on young Australians. We have already seen this in so many other areas, whether they be health, education or pensioners, and in this bill we see it in relation to young people. There is quite a bit of unfairness in this bill, and one example is the introduction of a one-month waiting period for the Newstart allowance. This is another unfair measure; another bad measure by a bad government. The fact is this bill seeks to give young job seekers under 25 nothing to live on for a month—absolutely nothing. It is another abandonment of young Australians by this Liberal-National government, and it reflects the continued unfairness at the very core of this government. This move is particularly unfair in the context of the very high youth unemployment which we see in this country. I will certainly talk more about that later, specifically in relation to regional areas. Rather than young people being provided with support, we see them being constantly demonised by this government. Labor knows and understands that young people want to work. They want to be able to find work. They do not want to be on benefits. They want to be able to work and contribute. That is what they aspire to.

Labor will oppose this latest cut that will impact on young Australians, just as we opposed last year's attempt to leave young job seekers with nothing to live on for six months. Whether it is one month or six, Labor will not support any measure which pushes young people into poverty and hardship. The costs to the community of that lifetime disadvantage are devastating to the individuals, to their families and to their communities. This is especially significant in regional areas, where youth unemployment is so high it is at levels we have not seen for decades. If you look at my electorate of Richmond, youth unemployment is as high as 25.8 per cent amongst our 15-24-year-olds. That is a huge figure—25:8 per cent. Particularly in regional areas, youth unemployment is so high and is a grave concern.

We have said the bill introduces a range of very harsh measures, including the requirement that young people under 25 wait four weeks to receive income support. Of course, this bill continues the Liberal-National government's budget attack on young people with the introduction of this legislation that will leave them with nothing to live on for a month, and we certainly oppose this position. Despite record high youth unemployment, the government sought initially to punish young people by imposing a six-month waiting period for access to NewStart. It is still one month, and that is very cruel. Labor continues to oppose this measure, because we understand that punitive measures are not the way to boost youth employment—it is not the way to go. We also understand that, in this current climate of grossly high unemployment, young people need every bit of real assistance they can get to enter or re-enter the workforce. Denying access to funds for even one month will make it sometimes impossible for young people to live, to pay their rent, to eat or even to pay for petrol to get to job interviews. Of course we heard the Treasurer say last year that poor people do not drive cars; that shows how out of touch the government is. What this government is doing will make it much harder for young people to live day to day. These are measures that will push young people into poverty; that is the reality—make no mistake about it. Most major welfare organisations across the country have commented on the unfairness of these measures and highlighted these cruel measures. In fact, ACOSS, the Australian Council of Social Service, said:

The Government now proposes to reduce the six month wait for unemployment payments for young people to one month, yet neither policy has been justified, especially at a time when unemployment is rising.

Another cruel measure is the extension of Youth Allowance from 22- to 24-year-olds in lieu of NewStart and sickness allowance, and this punishes young people by requiring them to live for an additional two years on a lower rate of assistance. This measure changes the eligibility age for NewStart, pushing job seekers who are between the ages of 22 and 24 onto the lower Youth Allowance. This a cut of around $48 a week; that is $48 a week this government wants to take off young people or around $2,500 a year. That is a very significant amount of money for a young person. Labor will oppose this measure because it is unfair and wrong. Also unfair is the application of a one-week waiting period to all working-age payments. This is another shameful cut by the government that will leave people on income support with nothing for a week. We also oppose the pauses to indexation changes over time, as these changes will hurt vulnerable people even more.

All this comes at a time, as I have said, of record youth unemployment. We know youth unemployment is around double the national average—in fact, the highest in a decade. In some parts of Australia, particularly regional areas, like my electorate of Richmond, more one in four young people cannot find a job. That is a huge statistic—one in four young people cannot find a job. Labor is the only party taking unemployment seriously; we are the only party that has a plan to address the youth jobs crisis in this country. At no stage during the global financial crisis, the most significant global recession since the Great Depression, was the youth unemployment rate as high as it is now under the Abbott government. Youth unemployment is currently at levels not seen since the mid-1990s. For the last 12 months, the average trend unemployment rate for young people looking for full-time work has been 15.7 per cent for people between 15 and 24 years old, and, as I have said, in regional areas it is often much higher.

Labor understands that, without a successful transition from study to work, young people will experience life-long employment disadvantage. We also understand how important it is to provide effective youth programs and training. Yet, what have we seen from this government? We have seen really effective youth programs cut. In last year's budget we saw the Abbott government completely cut all three youth unemployment prevention programs: Youth Connections, Partnership Brokers and National Career Development. These cuts were made despite the programs delivering excellent results since they were established by Labor in 2010. These are services that have been available to any young Australian and have helped tens of thousands of people from all communities and social backgrounds. I want to highlight in my electorate the Byron Youth Service, which has provided so much valuable support through Youth Connections, and that service may face closure due to these harsh cuts. For a service like Byron Youth Service to be facing closure is devastating for the young people of that region. Youth Connections provided the majority of their funding. Youth Connections has a truly impressive success rate in finding alternative ways to help people finish year 12, with over 80 per cent of participants in work or study 18 months after completing the program. Youth Connections reaches many people who would otherwise be left to face a lifetime risk of higher unemployment and lower earnings. Seventy per cent of Youth Connections students are from rural and regional areas; 20 per cent are Indigenous; and 40 per cent are from the most socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Those programs are really important, and yet this government has cut them all and not replaced them with anything, leaving those young people with no options for engaging in effective programs.

I also want to mention that, when it comes to educational opportunities, one of the most ruthless attacks from this government is that on the higher education. The deregulation of university fees and the proposed 20 per cent cut in funding means that we will end up with $100,000 university degrees. I can tell you, and I hear this from rural and regional families all the time, that the fact that the Abbott government is going to bring in such harsh cuts means that their kids will not be able to access higher education. They cannot in any way afford such high university fees.

We have also seen the Abbott government cut funding from skills by slashing programs that provided apprenticeship opportunities and support. Apprenticeship related programs are vital to that important transition from training to work. The Abbott government's own record to date condemns young people with $1 billion in cuts to apprenticeship programs in the 2014-15 budget. It has also replaced apprentice support with apprentice debt; rebadged and cut funding to Australian Apprenticeship Centres; and abolished the Joint Group Training program. In fact, the government has put forward no new ideas for training young people for the jobs of the future. All we have seen when it comes to any skills and training initiatives is cuts, cuts, cuts. Of course, before the election the Prime Minister promised that the coalition would provide better support for Australian apprentices, but, in fact, the government has done exactly the opposite. It was another blatant lie from this government as it proceeds to make very deep cuts to the apprenticeship programs. It has now produced two budgets, and all we have seen are many more cuts and absolutely no support. The government has cut funding for vital and proven services that assist young people to transition swiftly and successfully into the workforce. We have seen so many cuts in those training areas and in youth support areas and the increase in university fees; it is making it very difficult for younger people to gain effective training.

In contrast to the government's cuts, Labor recently launched the first part of our plan to tackle youth unemployment—namely, Youth Jobs Connect. Youth Jobs Connect is a $21 million pilot program that will help young people move from unemployment to work. We have announced this policy because youth unemployment levels, as we have said, are at such record high levels across the country. Despite continuous calls—not just from the Labor side but from throughout the community—for the Abbott government to articulate a jobs plan, they have not done that at all. They have shown no interest in that. They are so out of touch and are obviously not concerned about the future for young people, when you look at the content of bills like this. It seems their only plan is to continuously put barriers in the way of young people seeking employment opportunities. There are constant barriers, not just this bill but also all the other barriers that I have already outlined.

Only Labor understands that a successful transition from study to work will help prevent young people from experiencing life-long employment difficulties. We certainly understand that. Youth Jobs Connect is an intensive six-month program to help disadvantaged young people under 24 get into work. There will be a focus on developing strong links with local employers to provide young people with work experience and employment opportunities within their businesses. Also, mentoring and training in core employability skills, along with, when required, literacy and numeracy skills, will help about 3,000 young people to find and keep a job. That is what Labor is doing. We are committed to addressing many of the concerns that are in existence when it comes to our young people being provided with effective training, mentoring and assistance to find employment.

On the other hand, this Liberal-Nationals government continually denies younger people access to any means and assistance that might be help them get a job. This bill fundamentally seeks to marginalise the youth of this country through a very misguided and unfair approach through the use of punishment. They are being quite cruel. We know that does not work. We know such punitive measures do not work. We know the most effective tool is to provide incentives, support and training and to provide younger people with all those skills they will need to enter the workforce. We know that is important. We know that jobseekers need support to find a job—not savage attacks that make it harder for them to be able to find work.

As we have said, Labor will oppose this government's latest cruel and savage cuts to younger people. Whether it is for six months or one month, Labor will not support a measure which punishes young people into poverty and hardship. I have had that feedback in my local area, where people were saying, initially: 'Yes, the six months is cruel.' Well, the one month is equally cruel. I do not think that Australians want to have a country that leaves young people with nothing to live on. I do not think they want to be in a country where young people are pushed into poverty. This legislation represents an abandonment of young people by this government. That is effectively what it does. They do not seem to care. They seem so out of touch with the fact that younger people will be pushed into poverty by their actions. It reflects the gross unfairness at the very core of this government's budget.

At the end of the day, this government have no plan for jobs and they have no plan to deal with the youth unemployment crisis. It is particularly pertinent in regional areas. I implore those government members, particularly some from regional areas, to talk to people in their communities and understand how important it is for the government to have an effective plan to provide training and support for younger people and how important it is to make sure that youth programs are in place. Instead, we are seeing the government cutting all those youth programs. We need to see programs in place to make sure that assistance is there for younger people.

On this side, Labor will continue to oppose any of those cruel measures that will push younger people into poverty and make it more difficult for them. We will continue to stand up for young people by opposing all of the unfair measures of this government. We did it with the six-month wait for Newstart, and we will continue to do it with the one-month wait as well. It will not just be on this bill; it will be across all those other measures—whether they are the youth programs that provide support, whether they are the training and skills programs to make sure younger people can get all the skills they require to enter the workforce or whether they are about defending the right of our younger people to access education, particularly higher education. This comes on top of some claims we hear today about the government's schools tax that we might be seeing. This government seems to be going out of their way to impose punitive measures upon younger people—and we will continue to oppose them.

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