Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment and Other Measures) Bill 2015. As we have heard, this bill introduces a number of important measures in the social services portfolio, including the 2015 budget measures and several measures previously introduced in the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 4) Bill 2014.

Tonight I would like to focus on what our government is doing to help get young people into work. That is very much the focus of the initiatives and the measures that are contained in this bill. Reflecting on some of the recent contributions in this debate from members opposite, I find it disappointing to hear about this focus on fairness and on what our government is doing—when, let's not forget, we have inherited a terrible $557 billion trajectory of debt and deficit. It was quite laughable to hear the member for Lilley talk about the importance of delivering a surplus. He delivered six record deficits and never delivered a surplus; trashed our economy. We came into government in 2013 with rising unemployment.

I am very pleased to say that we are all focused, on both sides of the House, on the importance of measures to help young people get into work. I am very pleased to say that under this government we are creating jobs at three times the rate that Labor was doing in its last year in office. We are seeing a downward trajectory on unemployment from 6.25 per cent to six per cent. We are seeing growing confidence. We are seeing great excitement about the importance we are placing on small business. Let's not forget one of the most important employers for young people is small business.

In the previous government 519,000 people lost their jobs across the small business sector. In the Geelong region, which I proudly represent, the Corangamite electorate, so many young people get their first start in life in a small business. It was really a disgraceful record. That is why we have put so much effort into turning around the fortunes of small business—the $20,000 instant asset tax write-off, the tax cut, the tax discount for unincorporated small businesses. The poor old Leader of the Opposition forgot two-thirds of small business in his budget reply speech, as we well recall. We have a very strong focus because we know how important small business is in driving our economy and we know how important small business is in employing young people. We are proudly championing our measures for small business as part of our $5.5 billion Jobs and Small Business package under the budget.

I am going to focus tonight on the measure which introduces a four-week waiting period for youth under 25. We are well aware of course that the measure replaces the under-30s measure in the 2014-15 budget. The total cost of the reversal is $1.8 billion. So it is a very significant investment that we are making. But I do want to reflect on this change in policy. It was the right decision. It is very important to point out that there were a number of very important exemptions to that six month wait that was proposed in that budget; nevertheless, I was a strong advocate for a change in that policy and I am delighted that the Social Services Minister and the previous minister were so receptive to my representations on behalf of young people in Corangamite. We are facing some unemployment challenges; there is no doubt about it. But I have to say that we are a region of great opportunity.

Just on the weekend I was talking about the new regional rail link and the fact that it is now quicker to travel from Geelong to Southern Cross Station than it is from many outer suburbs of Melbourne. That presents our region with some great opportunities to move down to Geelong—even if you do need to continue to work in Melbourne—to build a house, to access the great schools, to access the great hospitals, to access the great lifestyle and to raise a family in our great part of the world.

From 1 July 2016, as set out in this budget, young people under 25 who are the most job-ready who apply for youth allowance other or special benefit will serve a four-week waiting period before becoming eligible for a payment. It is important to point out that job-ready means someone who lives in an area with good employment opportunities, who has reasonable language, literacy and numeracy skills and recent work experience. But you would not know that if you listened to members opposite. There are in fact a range of important exemptions. We recognise that some young people do need that assistance straight away. We want to make sure that this measure gives young people the incentive to go out and look for work, not to walk straight from the school gate to Centrelink. We want to avoid that culture. We want to positively drive the incentive for young people to go out and look for their opportunities and we want to support them on the way.

I just want to make it very clear that students will not be subject to the four-week waiting period. And in recognition of the importance of education and training in preventing future unemployment, young people who return to school or who take up full-time vocational education or university study will be able to seek more suitable payments and will therefore not be subject to the waiting period. Job seekers who have been assessed as having significant barriers to finding a job will also not be required to serve the four-week waiting period. I often talk about the importance of governing with compassion and care. In these exemptions, we are seeing a government that is incredibly mindful that not all young kids get the best start in life. Not all young kids live in a happy home. There are many young people who live in very difficult circumstances and they need our help from day one.

There are a range of other important exemptions to the four-week waiting period. If someone has served a four-week waiting period in the last six months, they will not have to do so again. If someone has a disability or an activity test exemption—so if they are pregnant or in the last six weeks of their pregnancy—they will not have to serve this waiting period. Of course there are a couple of other important exemptions as well. The government will make sure that only youths aged 16 to 25 will have to serve the waiting period. There are some cases where a person under 16 can be on a special benefit.

What we are trying to do is strike the right balance because it is estimated that 6.5 million young people under the age of 25 are living at home with one or two parents. What is important to a government that governs with compassion, governs with care is that there is also a ministerial discretion where the minister has the power to draft new exemptions if they are required. I particularly want to commend the Minister for Social Services for the way that he has responded to this challenge. Let's not forget we have a massive challenge in fixing Labor's mess, fixing the debt and deficit that we inherited, trying to find those savings but in a responsible and fair way.

Boy oh boy, have we seen a more appalling example of unfairness than the Labor Party's decision to oppose an increase in the pension of some $30 a fortnight for the most vulnerable of pensioners? There are members opposite who are also shaking their heads privately. It was a callous decision. It was a decision that shows that the modern Labor Party has utterly lost its way.

In the time remaining, I want to talk about a very important youth employment strategy. What we saw previously, which is why we never saw any inroads into the terrible situation that we do have in some parts of the country with youth unemployment, was Labor tinkering at the edges. What we are delivering in this budget is a $331-million youth employment strategy. This includes a $212 million transition to work program to help disengaged young people aged 15 to 21 years become job ready. This program will commence on 1 January 2016. Eligible young job seekers will receive intensive support from community-based organisations, in many respects doing a far broader job than was done under Youth Connections. This is a far more comprehensive program that looks at every possible need for a young disengaged person wanting to get out of the welfare trap and find that job. I know there is great interest in this program among the many agencies across my electorate of Corangamite who work so hard to help those who most need help. This is a fantastic program. It will be supplemented by $106 million for intensive support to vulnerable young people most at risk of long-term unemployment including migrants, parents and those who have experienced mental illness.

The government has also delivered an $18-million national work experience program for around 6,000 job seekers annually, particularly young people. This, again, is incredibly important in giving young people opportunity, giving them confidence and in giving employers confidence that they can take someone on and see how someone can blossom and flourish in the role. It gives employers incentives to you hire a young person.

Very importantly, and we saw none of these measures under the previous Labor government, employers now have the option of offering a $6,500 wage subsidy to a young person who is a job seeker. This is an incredibly important measure, again driving that incentive for employers to say, 'I am going to employ someone young.' There is an incentive there. Sometimes there are additional resources required to train someone who is young, who does not have the same experience. It is an incredibly important incentive. Along with the national work experience program, along with the wage subsidy, there is also $14-million early school leaver program to improve educational outcomes. What we are seeing is a very comprehensive set of measures to address youth unemployment in my electorate and across the nation and, simply speaking, these were not the sorts of measures that we saw under the previous government. I have to say it is disappointing that we are not seeing support for the bill. Some of these measures will revolutionise the life of a young person.

I am very proud of what we are also doing locally. For the Geelong Employment Connections Program, we have just added another $1.3 million, which is to help fund the jobs fair. There was $95,000 for the jobs fair over two days, last Friday and Saturday. It was a great success and made sure that every possible job was presented together in a cohesive way bringing together job seekers, agencies and other organisations. That money will be used over the next two years to create job creation programs, grassroots programs. Already there is an example, the 45 plus program. I visited a group who were attending that program just recently and around four to five have now secured full-time work, which is incredibly exciting.

The Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund, a program that has delivered some 750 jobs and is well on the way to delivering close to 1,000 jobs, as we see the last round close and further applications be considered, is an incredibly important fund for our region. All of the $15 million which is allocated as the Commonwealth spend has been provided by our government. There is only $4.5 million from the state, and unfortunately the $7.5 million promised by the state Victorian government has been reneged upon. They are now refusing to place that money into the fund, which frankly is a disgrace which is hurting our region and hurting job seekers.

Our $155 million Growth Fund focused on areas affected by the end of car manufacturing—a very important fund. There is a $30 million Skills and Training Initiative, a $15 million boost to the Automotive Industry Structural Adjustment Program, $20 million in the Automotive Diversification Program and a $60 million Next Generation Manufacturing Investment Program.

Our industry growth centres are being rolled out. I am working very hard advocating for the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre to come to our region. We have the ABS Centre of Excellence and the NDIA headquarters—very important Commonwealth agencies in our region delivering jobs. P-TECH is a very important initiative in our schools linking industry with a disadvantaged school, and the first one is to be rolled out in Corangamite. So there are many important measures to help young people get into work.

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