Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is good to have this opportunity tonight to speak on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment and Other Measures) Bill 2015.

To my mind, four things are required to address unemployment, particularly youth unemployment. Firstly, there needs to be skills and training, to prepare people for the opportunities of the future. There needs to be opportunities, because training without somewhere to go is not that useful. And there needs to be services and support, often provided by government or agencies of government. And probably above all, there needs to be a good attitude, a positive attitude, to the opportunities out there.

When I look around my electorate and the communities and the people of my electorate, I see some people who really know how to work hard, and they do great jobs. Some people are prepared to do anything. Often low-skilled people, people who have come from refugee or migrant backgrounds, are prepared to do some of the not very nice jobs in the electorate—including hard manual labour type jobs that are out there. So, above all, attitude is a very important element of all this.

I remember once when I was at a local high school—this was not long after I got elected; it might have been in 2008 or 2009. I was having a discussion with a year 10 class—I will not name the school—and one of the students said to me, 'If I don't want to work, I shouldn't have to'. Fortunately that is a very rare failure of attitude. Or maybe it is okay that someone should say, 'If I do not want to work should not have to.' But I think there is a responsibility in this nation that if someone decides they do not want to work, they do not want to make that sort of effort, they do not want to make a contribution then they should also never take the support of the taxpayer.

Fortunately that was the only time I have ever heard that said so I think that is a great endorsement on the people of my electorate and probably across the whole country. That self-centred viewpoint with such a lack of responsibility, I have only ever heard it once. Most of the time people have a very good attitude towards work. Every day when I walk into the shopping centre my office is at I see people hard at work whether it is in the fruit shop, the bakery, Woolworths or elsewhere. In Malaga or in Wangara, the light industrial areas, again, many people are at work and that is great.

I talked a bit about the four elements required to do something about unemployment. I would like to take up the opportunity side of things because obviously government does not create jobs—unless we are talking about increasing the size of the public service. Government is about facilitating private enterprise in the creation of jobs. So when the other side, the Labor Party, talked about how apparently we have no plan then obviously they were not there on budget night because the small business package was exactly about creating opportunities for Australians. It was exactly about the incentivising of the private sector to create jobs.

I think it was the member for Hume who asked a question where he highlighted a local business. Thanks to the small business initiatives of this coalition government, five jobs were created in one small business in the electorate of Hume—I think it was Hume. That is a great endorsement of a policy, which is a plan and which is helping private enterprise to create employment. I think that is where the opportunities lie.

On the issue of skills and training, I would also like to reflect very favourably on some of the high schools in the electorate of Cowan. I would like to start with Ballajura Community College, which has a very good hospitality program. I remember on many occasions where the school had invited me and other people to functions, going into the kitchen afterwards and being able to see the portfolios of the hospitality students—basically young chefs in the making—and a photo book of some of the great recipes and presentations they have done. It was very encouraging. Those are real skills for the future.

Woodvale Secondary College has certificate courses in animal studies, business, construction, engineering, hospitality, music, outdoor recreation, sport and recreation, and visual and contemporary craft. These are all part of the vocational education and training courses that exist at Woodvale Secondary College. Again, this is an example of where one of those elements of getting gainful employment in the future is achieved because the state education system is providing those course opportunities, those skills and training opportunities that young people want. We know that entry to university is not everything and it is not a measure of a person's success. Great employment—and very highly-paid employment as well—can be achieved through vocational education.

Next I would like to look at Girrawheen Senior High School, which, in conjunction with Polytechnic West, offers a certificate II in construction and a pre-apprenticeship in bricklaying and block laying. Girrawheen is not so much linked to university entry but very much linked to vocational education and training. I certainly endorse the work they are doing at Girrawheen Senior High School.

I would like to speak briefly about what Wanneroo Secondary College as well. Wanneroo Secondary College has effectively two campuses. It has got the main campus, which does the traditional subjects but it also offers certificates in sports and recreation, information and communication technology, business, visual arts, music, textiles and first aid. But over at the Joondalup campus there are traineeships and apprenticeships. Students can get certificates in construction, make-up and nails, child care, business, metals and engineering, electrical trades, automotive, hospitality and beauty.

I look at Wanneroo Secondary College and I see a school that is doing great work identifying what the students are interested in but also their needs as well. When I look at certificates in hospitality or in beauty or in makeup and nails, in every shopping centre these are the sorts of skills that employers require. I look at what is being done at these high schools and they are always interested in the vocational education and training opportunities for young people. I see that they are doing great focused work which does equip students for the opportunities of the future.

Again I look at the four elements that I mentioned before. There are the skills and training, which I have mentioned with regard to the high schools, the secondary schools, in the electorate of Cowan. I look at the opportunities, strengthened by the government's small business package and our plan for employment. I have talked briefly about the attitude. I mentioned just one example, and I am sure it is a very, very rare example, of someone with a bad attitude—maybe that was just bravado from a year 10 student. But, when I look at the numbers of students that are doing very well in the vocational education and training courses in Cowan, I think that that is a demonstration as well of a good attitude.

Those are three of the four elements. But what I would just like to talk about to finish, of course, is what the government also provides—that is, the services and support. This piece of legislation contains a number of measures addressing social services, from ordinary waiting periods through to age requirements for various Commonwealth payments, low-income support supplements, indexation and income support waiting periods. The House debated a number of these measures earlier, so it is my intention just to address the income support waiting times outlined in this legislation.

I believe the measures in the legislation are fair and targeted and will benefit young job seekers in Cowan. Certainly from 1 July 2016 young people under 25 who are the most job ready who apply for youth allowance or special benefit will serve a four-week waiting period before becoming eligible for payment. By 'job ready' I mean someone who lives in an area with good employment opportunities, has reasonable language, literacy and numeracy skills and has recent work experience. I can see that all of these are exactly the measures of the four elements of employment, dovetailing really well into this 'job ready' definition.

In this measure, yes, we do talk about savings because that is important, given the budgetary mess that we were left and the need to balance the books and to try to get this country sustainable. But, during the first four weeks, young job seekers will be meeting with a jobactive provider and agreeing to a job plan, developing an up-to-date resume, creating a job seeker profile on the JobSearch website and providing evidence of satisfactory job searches with up to 20 job applications. I think that certainly this is important. This goes to the obligations that I have mentioned before. It goes to the attitude as well. It is, again, the four elements of obtaining jobs that I mentioned before. These are the services and support provided by the providers that have been organised by the government.

Students will not be subject to the four-week waiting period. Furthermore, in recognition of the importance of education and training in preventing future unemployment, young people who return to school or take up full-time vocational education or university study will be able to seek more suitable payments such as youth allowance (student) and would therefore not be subject to the four-week waiting period.

Job seekers who have been assessed as having significant barriers to finding a job will not be required to serve the four-week waiting period. This will include stream B and stream C jobactive clients.

The bill also includes a number of important exemptions to the four-week waiting period: Firstly, if someone has served a four-week waiting period in the last six months, they will not have to serve another if that job ends through no fault of their own. They have done exactly what we have asked, and they will go onto the youth allowance payment. Certainly it is the case that there are protections, but there are also obligations involved with this bill.

As I said, the government are doing excellent work through the services and the support and also helping small business with the opportunities through our small business package. The state education system particularly is doing great work with skills and training. I believe that certainly in the electorate of Cowan, and across this whole country, young people have a great attitude. With these four elements, there will be the best opportunities available.

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