Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Fowler for his contribution to this important debate on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment and Other Measures) Bill 2015. I am also happy to speak on this bill because, like the member for Fowler, I am happy to stand up for Australia's youth. The Abbott government is not standing up for them by condemning them to a month without support. The Irish band U2 said that you glorify the past when the future dries up—and this Prime Minister personifies that attitude. He is not just conservative and trying to maintain the status quo; he is trying to take us backwards. He is regressive. Under this Prime Minister we see attacks on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, with over $500 million cut from their budget, and on workplaces. The government should be providing opportunities as Australia develops but this Prime Minister is taking us backwards, particularly when it comes to the youth. It is targeting the most vulnerable in our community and, sadly, young people too often fall into that category.

Nationally youth unemployment is currently around 14 per cent. Sadly, in Queensland youth unemployment is higher than the national average at 14.3 per cent. It is particularly high in a couple of areas. Youth unemployment is a particular problem in Cairns. The Abbott government's northern Australia policy is going to make it easier for people on backpacker visas and the like to go into those areas where there is high youth unemployment. I am hoping that with your support, Deputy Speaker Ewen Jones, we will be able to nuance that so we do not take jobs away from young North Queenslanders. I am sure you will do that, Deputy Speaker.

In 2014 there were 56,800 long-term unemployed young people aged between 15 and 24 in Australia. That is the context in which we need to see this legislation. This legislation was put forward by an out of touch government that seems to think it is necessary to provide a disincentive so young people will not become disengaged and reliant on government support. The government sees no link between the number of youth out of work and the lack of jobs.

In my electorate of Moreton there are good, eager, hardworking kids looking for an opportunity. They definitely want to work. That is not just my view; there have been surveys undertaken by credible groups, such as Mission Australia, that back that up. They say that the majority of young people want to find a job. So put aside what the right-wing radio shock jocks are saying, the youth of today are the same as youth have always been—a little different from those in their middle age or older. They are a bit different but they are still keen to make their mark.

It is not easy for the young people of today with long-term unemployment issues and there are lots of other barriers to them obtaining a job. As I said, there are not many jobs available. We have unemployment at the moment at six per cent, but the Treasurer's own budget papers say that unemployment will rise to 6½ per cent. That is what the government is saying in its own budget papers. That will mean it will be harder for young people to grab a job. We know there are not many full-time jobs available. Job security has decreased over time. We have young people lacking experience to get a job. That is an age-old problem. Also employers are often unwilling to hire young people. They can also have transport problems. We see a government proudly committed to not investing in public transport in our cities, which is used most by young people to get to work.

The unemployment figure for young people is significantly higher than for the general population and has been rising since 2008. So the government through this bill wants to put in place measures that are going to make it even harder for youth at a time in their life which is difficult already, when they are just making decisions as an adult with all the challenges that come with that. We do not have the same initiation ceremonies that other communities have. It is a difficult rite of passage. Schoolies is not a rite of passage that sensible tribes would have.

This unfair piece of government legislation will change the eligibility for Newstart. Youth aged between 22 and 24 will now not be eligible for the Newstart allowance if they are unemployed. Those 22- to 24-year-olds who want to work and cannot find employment will now be forced to apply for the youth allowance, an allowance that is designed for students. For an unemployed youth living away from home this change in eligibility for Newstart will mean that rather than receiving $519.20 each fortnight while they are trying to find work they will now receive only $426.80 per fortnight. That change from $519 down to $426 is a change from $37 a day, which anyone would testify is not a lot of money, to $30 a day. That is to pay for all living expenses—accommodation, food, medication, transport and, heaven forbid, a young person's relaxation time. They will get $30 a day. I think the Treasurer pays more than $30 for his cigars. Thirty dollars a day is phenomenal. That $7 a day change for these youths could be the cost of a bus fare or a train ticket to go to an interview or, if they live in Gippsland, petrol to put in their car to go for a job application.

The government, in its explanatory memorandum to this bill, says:

The key aim of this measure is to provide incentives to young unemployed people to obtain the relevant education and training to increase employability.

One thing the explanatory memorandum does not explain is how these youth are to afford the education and training that the government clearly wants them to get. If Education Minister Christopher Pyne's $100,000 degrees become reality, this will be even harder. He seems determined to change the way equality and opportunity are rolled out in Australia.

Not all youth want or need to be further trained. What they all do need is the support to be able to find a job. That means the ability to 'job hunt'. Admittedly, online gives them some opportunities that they did not have 50 years ago, but the reality is you still need to get in front of an employer, and that requires transport, which costs money—money that youth on the lower youth allowance will not have if they are looking for a good job. As the Treasurer so kindly said to them, if they want to be able to buy a house—particularly in Sydney, where the median house price is about $900,000—they have to get a good job with a good wage.

The other unfair provision this bill will introduce is a waiting period for new claimants of youth allowance who are job seekers, and that will commence in a year's time, on 1 July 2016. The Labor Party fought long and hard last year to stop this government leaving unemployed youth with nothing to live on for six months. I did not hear a chorus of opposition from those opposite at that cruel policy, but now the government, after action from ACOSS, the Labor Party and all concerned people—including grandparents who are concerned about this harsh policy being visited upon their grandchildren—want to leave them with nothing to live on for one month—for 30 days. Whether it is one month or six months, if they have nothing to live on it is going to be extraordinarily difficult for our youth. How does the government expect these youth to feed themselves, pay rent, buy medication and then present themselves to interviews in such a way that they are attractive to a potential employer, particularly if we are talking about young people who are in a strained relationship with their families? You cannot assume that all young people have parents who are willing and able to provide that sort of support. That is an arrogant assumption to make and does not reflect the current Australian Bureau of Statistics data on what families are in Australia. Without parental support, these youth will be living on fresh air for an entire month, or lining up at the soup kitchens. Is that the sort of policy we want in modern Australia?

But the unfairness of this bill does not stop there. To become eligible for the youth allowance, these unemployed youth will have to jump through a further hoop: they will be subject to a 'new rapid activation strategy' called RapidConnect Plus. The government is demanding that they undertake additional job search activities during the four-week period before they receive any income support. At the very time that these youth will have no income support whatsoever, the government is asking them to undertake more job search activities.

Ms Henderson interjecting—

How would the people of the Geelong area find it if they sent their children out to not only have no money but also have to go out and look for a job, particularly at a time when manufacturing is collapsing under this government? Manufacturing, which was once the lifeblood of the Corangamite and Geelong areas, is now collapsing under this government, because it does not support manufacturing in the long term.

This bill is punitive—cruel and unusual punishment. It will punish youth who cannot find work. Why should these youth be disadvantaged more than any other sector of our society? Why are they not afforded the same basic standard of living that our government will give to every other citizen? This government is forcing our youth into poverty. These measures are unjustified and will cause immense hardship. This government has no plan to increase jobs and no plan to help these youth get a job—just a plan to punish them and undermine any confidence that they may have had.

Labor is committed to ensuring young people find work through support, through training, through work experience and through incentives. Labor wants our youth, who are our future, to succeed. But we also understand that this is difficult in the current job climate and that youth need our support and understanding, Not misplaced value judgments and punishment that have rolled straight out of the right-wing radio shock jocks.

Labor will support education and training for youth. I visited a youth training centre in my electorate of Moreton recently. The Phoenix Development Group at Rocklea offers traineeships in warehousing in a fully functional warehouse with on-site classrooms. The students there obtain a certificate III on completion of the traineeship. The Phoenix Development Group brokers pathways to success for Indigenous Australians and other minority groups, as well as youth disengaging from schooling and the long-term unemployed. They also have a special focus on people that have disabilities. They have training facilities particularly for people that are visually impaired. The Phoenix Development Group's goal is that their students, on completion of their courses, will be empowered individuals and able to live independent of the welfare system. The students I met there a week or so ago were keen to get out into the employment system, meet employers and become independent. That is the recipe for youth success: training, education and support, not the humiliation and punishment that the Abbott government is imposing through this bill.

I should stress, however, that there is one measure in this bill that Labor will not oppose: we will not oppose the ceasing of the low-income supplement. Labor will always be fiscally responsible where measures are fair and socially just. So far Labor has announced support for more than $2 billion in budget savings. The Labor Party calls on the government to split this bill. if the government does not split this bill then Labor will oppose this bill in its entirety.

These measures will not assist youth to get jobs. They may, in fact, prevent them from gaining work. This legislation is unfair and it is cruel. It will not decrease the levels of welfare dependency. Instead it will force our youth into poverty. Labor will stand up for youth and oppose these unfair measures.

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