Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment and Other Measures) Bill 2015. As a federal member of parliament, I have the great privilege of meeting many people throughout my electorate of Petrie, as I am sure you do in your electorate, Mr Deputy Speaker. Some of the Petrie electorate locals I get to meet are young people out there having a go, doing their study, trying to get work, finishing school. There are a whole range of people. The situation is different for everyone you meet. I have met young people who are going on to do further study, whether that is at TAFE or university. I have met people who are engaged with or going into the Australian Defence Force Gap Year that has recently been announced. I have met young people who have found full-time work—apprenticeships or other types of work—and young people who are taking part in the Work for the Dole program or the Green Army Program which we have introduced in the last couple of years.

In the bigger picture, we as a government and as members of parliament want to make sure that our policies and the decisions we make today have the best impact, not just on the lives of Australians today but on the lives of future Australians. We need to be thinking ahead, planning ahead, which is important. Part of that is balancing the budget. We need to do that. I raise that because the member for Lilley came in here before and spoke about all the bad things that this side of the House were doing and how there was not a budget crisis and we have gone away from that. The fact is that there is still a budget crisis. Every day we spend $100 million more than we earn. I consider that a bit of a crisis, when we have come off the back of eight budget deficits, six of which the member for Lilley brought down.

A number of us on this side of the House, including myself, were inspired to get involved in politics at the 2013 federal election because of the deficits that the member for Lilley and those opposite racked up, amongst other things. We have to think—and what those opposite do not think about—as we continue to increase debt is what that does to Australians, including young people, whom we are talking about here today. We already see the opposition heading into the next election, in just over 12 months, talking about more taxes on superannuation, talking about changes to negative gearing and talking about other changes they will need to make to fund the unfunded promises they have made. Of course, that affects young people in my electorate. It affects people who are in years 10, 11 and 12 right now who will go on to work. They are going to be hit with higher taxes. On this side of the House, we believe in lower taxes and smaller government. We make no apologies for that. We want to cut the red tape and we want to help businesses employ more people.

It would be detrimental of course to our country and our democracy if the Australian government did not support Australian families and individuals to help them participate economically and socially and to manage life's transitions. Safety nets should be in place. Safety nets are there for those who most need them. They give people a chance to bounce back into work, training or learning. In this bill there are strong safety nets. We know there are people who are not living at home, people who have children or people who are desperately in need of finances. That is available. So there are safety measures in place. There have been some important changes since last year, which those opposite asked for, and they are here in this bill this year, but none of that has been mentioned tonight.

The measures presented in this bill are vital to the sustainability of our social security system and Australia's budget. We want to make sure that the social security system is sustainable for the long term. Just because there is a change to welfare in some way does not mean that everyone will be worse off and will not be able to get back to work or into work. You have to have faith that young people will be able to get into work. From what I have heard tonight, those opposite believe that just because there is a change everyone is going to be worse off. I say that is not always the case and there are safety nets in place for those who are. The changes we have made from last year's budget by bringing the age down from 30 to 25 has cost the budget $1.9 billion. We have listened, and the process is in place whereby people are no longer waiting for six months; it is down to four weeks. That is a good thing. We do have to remember, though, that we have to have a welfare system that is there for people in need. As the Minister for Social Services said, we need to make sure we do not see young Australians seeking out welfare as a career choice. Most people we know do not do that, but some may think, 'When I leave school, if I go straight onto welfare I do not need to look hard for work'. As the minister said, 'We do not want to see a shuttle run from the school gate to the Centrelink door.'

These sensible measures are there to try to help young people find full-time work. That is what we want to see; we want to see young people get work. We do not want to see them stuck in a life of welfare. Some of the changes here are quite reasonable—very reasonable. The bill will introduce four 2015 budget measures in the social services portfolio, along with certain other measure from the 2014 budget and earlier fiscal decisions. Importantly, the four-week waiting period for youth income support will replace the current measure requiring young people, with full capacity, to wait one week. It is not a long time, is it? If you finish school, currently you wait one week before you go onto youth allowance and so forth, and we are talking about four weeks—not six months but four weeks. That is not a long time to wait. We know that many people have been at home for 12 years studying. They have been doing their study at school. Often at the end of year 12 they will go away. They will go away for Schoolies, they will have Christmas and they will spend time with their families. Four weeks is not an unreasonable time to wait. As I said before, there are strong safety nets in place for those who are particularly in financial dire straits.

We want to make sure that people get into work, and we need to encourage everything we can to help people to do that. Having a sustainable welfare system for those who most need it is part of that plan to show that it is sustainable for the long term for those who are most in need of work. The one thing we can all do, and the one thing that I like to do as the federal member for Petrie, is to encourage young people. I am positive with young people. I say to them: 'If you're looking for work, here are some practical tips for your resume and how to get that job. You don't necessarily have to write your age in and you don't have to have every year there. Some of that is not relevant to employers.' We want to give them a little bit and talk about the positives. Then, if they can get an interview, that is great. What do employers look for at an interview? They want someone with good eye contact, they want someone who is dressed well, they want someone with a good handshake and they want someone—above everything else—with a good work ethic who is productive.

These are important points to teach people. They are important things to talk about when we are out there in our electorates. I say to members opposite, why not do that as well? Instead of looking for the worst in every situation—'Geez, we've gone from one week to four weeks'—remember that last year we were looking at six months, and we are bringing that down. What about something positive? What about talking to young people and saying, 'Look, you can do this.' We do have a plan for jobs. We saw that in our $5.5 billion small business package with the instant tax write-off and other measures to encourage small business. We know that small businesses do create jobs. If we can get them firing, and if we can get them doing well, then there are more jobs available

But one way that we do not do it is to increase taxes all the time. And if you are addicted to debt, like those opposite—like the Labor Party—you have to increase taxes; you have to keep doing it. So we have to ensure that the budget is sustainable.

As I said before, the Treasurer is slowly coming back to surplus. I believe that is important. We should not lose track of that. We do need to come back to surplus in the interests of all Australians—for businesses, for those people who are retired and who do not want to see their cost of living increase and for young people who are moving into the workforce and who do not want to pay higher taxes down the track. With safety nets in place not every change to the welfare system is bad, and that is what we need to look at.

Of course, we are a country with tremendous opportunities. I believe it is just so important for people to identify what it is that they want out of life and to go for it.

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