Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment and Other Measures) Bill 2015. Firstly, I think we should focus on where we are on unemployment in this country. I think everyone accepts that our unemployment levels are currently too high. We cannot look at that in isolation. We need to look at the history of the past several years and where we are to see where we can go in the future.

We start by going back to the last coalition government. That last coalition government actually decreased the unemployment queues in this country by over 300,000 people. There were 300,000 people who were on the unemployment line when the previous coalition government took office who were actually in paid work when the coalition left office—a reduction of 300,000 people. That was also done at a time when the debt was paid back, and not only the $96 billion worth of Labor debt that they had inherited. It should never be forgotten that along the way they also had to pay back $54 billion in interest payments. They paid back $96 billion. That money had to be taken out of the economy. It had to be earned—every single cent of it—by private enterprise and taken out of the economy to pay back Labor's debt: $96 billion plus another $54 billion in interest. And then another $40 billion was put aside in the Future Fund and the surplus was handed over, with a budget in surplus by $20 billion. That is what the previous Labor government inherited. And, with all that work paying back all that debt and putting aside that money in the Future Fund, the previous coalition government were still able to decrease the unemployment queues in this country by 300,000 people.

Let us contrast that to the six years of Labor. They blew the surplus. They went on a reckless and wild spending spree, running up over $300 billion in debt, which now costs this nation at least $13 billion every single year in interest payments. It simply goes straight out the door. And yet, during that period of time, the unemployment queues in this country increased by 200,000 people. We could fill the MCG twice with the number of people that joined the unemployment queues under the previous Labor government.

It is quite simple. We have seen in speech after speech from members of the Labor Party that they simply do not understand how jobs are created in this country. They think that the government can create jobs. They think they can go out there and spend money on all these little pet projects, like we saw with the home insulation and the schools projects. They think that is what creates jobs. But all they are doing is taking money from productive parts of the economy, like they did with their carbon tax on small business, slugging all those businesses with extra costs and imposts and taxes and making it harder for those people, when those small business people are the ones who are actually the job creators of this nation. That is what we have to get a basic, fundamental understanding of. Those small businesses, especially those entrepreneurs that go out and have a go and create those new businesses, are the job creators of this nation.

Of course, that is why we saw under the previous Labor government their complete misunderstanding of that basic concept. Not only did we see the unemployment queue increase by 200,000, but the sector that they hit the hardest was the small business sector. Over 500,000 jobs were lost in the small business sector of this nation under the policies of the previous Labor government—519,000 jobs were lost in the small business sector. That is what we of the coalition have inherited. That is what we are trying to turn around—not only all the landmines that have been planted along the way.

I can confidently say that we have gotten off to a good start. Already, under this coalition government, we have seen 280,000 jobs created in this nation. They are not created by government. They are created mostly by our small business sector out there in our community. That is 280,000 jobs added since this government took office. We saw 42,000 jobs—according to the ABS seasonally adjusted numbers—created in the last month.

I am proud to say, coming from the state of New South Wales, that a large proportion of those jobs were actually created in New South Wales. If we look at the laggard states—unfortunately the laggard state of Victoria—over the last two months combined, according to the ABS, we have seen 35,000 jobs created in New South Wales. But guess how many, under a Labor government, have been created in Victoria? If you guessed none, you would be close but you would still be wrong. Over the same time that the Liberal coalition government has created 35,000 jobs in New South Wales, in Victoria we have seen almost 2,000 jobs lost, again showing the importance of coalition policies, coalition principles and the simple understanding that governments do not create jobs. It is the private sector and especially small business that create jobs.

The way to get that job creation up is to take those government taxes and reduce the government levies, reduce the red tape, reduce those burdens on those small businesses and give people the incentive to get out, have a go and start a new business. That is what creates jobs. That is what this side of the House understands. And that is one of the reasons why we have seen 280,000 jobs created since this government has come to office.

Also, we have seen the previous Labor government's forecasts for unemployment at this time were 6¼ per cent. That is what they forecast. We have seen from most of their forecasts time after time underestimating the costs of their policies. That was their best case scenario—an unemployment rate of 6.25 per cent. We, in the coalition, have that down to six per cent and we are determined to get that lower. That is why policies like our free trade policies open up trade opportunities with China, with South Korea and with Japan. I note the trade minister is currently working over in India, where we have enormous opportunities to increase jobs in this nation. But back to the specific provisions of this bill. Unemployment in this country is still too high. We still have to help the private sector to create more jobs, more wealth and prosperity for this country.

One thing that must be noted about this bill is that the measures are not stand-alone. In the 2015-16 budget, the government announced a jobs and small business package which increases support services for those impacted by the changes of this bill. You will hear Labor speakers get up on this bill and try and pick holes in it, but this bill cannot be looked at in isolation. You need to look at all the other aspects they have put into the budget. And they include that we have invested in additional work experience places—$18.3 million—to provide job experience and connection for employers. We are running intensive support trials for vulnerable job seekers with a cost of $55.2 million. We are providing new support for youth and mental health conditions—another $19.4 million. Another $22.1 million is for vulnerable young migrants and refugees. We are continuing to support parents to prepare for unemployment—another $8.9 million. These trials will focus on the most disadvantaged and help them prepare for work, find a job and stay in that job.

From 1 July 2016, young people under 25 who are most job ready—that is important—who apply for youth allowance or other special benefits will serve a four-week waiting period before becoming eligible for payment. It is quite a simple concept. We believe that it is against a person's interests to go from the school gate to the Centrelink office. We believe that, no matter what welfare we give them during that period, to have a system where you can go from the school gate to the Centrelink office is not in the long-term best interests of that person. But we do have provisions and exceptions in this, because job ready means someone has to live in an area with good employment opportunities. They have to have reasonable language, literacy and numeracy skills, and they have to have recent work experience. The measures in this bill will save $200 million, but the additional support services that we are putting in have a cost of $375 million. When you add the two up, when you look at the provisions in this bill and the other things the government is doing, we are providing more for disadvantaged youth to give them greater opportunities to get into jobs.

During those first four weeks, a young job seeker will be required to meet with a proactive job provider, agree to a job plan, develop an up-to-date resume, create a job seeker profile on a job search website and provide evidence of a satisfactory job search of up to 200 job applications. Further, we have made $8.1 million available in emergency relief funding to provide assistance for job seekers affected by the measure who are experiencing hardship. This funding will be available for the emergency relief providers. This measure will encourage young people to make every effort to look for work and to maximise their chances of getting a job. Students will not be subject to the four-week waiting period. Further, 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 and therefore would 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 wait the four-week waiting period.

Then there are a number of important exemptions. Firstly, someone who has served the four-week period in the last six months will not have to serve another four-week period if they have left a job or their job has ended through no fault of their own. Also, if someone has a disability, they will be exempt. If they are pregnant in the last six weeks, they will also not have to serve the waiting period. These measures will not impact job seekers who have left state care within 12 months. The government will make sure only youth 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. And these exemptions will ensure the bill is fair and there is ministerial discretion.

It is estimated today there are 6.5 million young people under the age of 25 who are living at home with one or two parents. During this waiting period, many people will find jobs that do not require income support payments. We are taking measures to encourage young people to go out and take that first job, rather than perversely encouraging them to go from the school gate straight to the Centrelink office.

I encourage young people today when they are going out looking for their first job to try many different things. I remember my first job when I was still in school. The first day I got my licence I went and sold some things at Paddy's Markets with a mate of mine. We went around some of the factories and were able to con them to give us some of their old broken merchandise. It was a bit of a consignment deal. We would take it to see if we could sell it. They were happy to get rid of their old broken stuff. We fixed it and took it to the markets in the back of an old station wagon as soon as we had our licence. We were able to earn ourselves a few extra bucks that way. That is what I encourage young people to do. Not just to look at the traditional sources of employment but to look in all areas of the economy where they can have a go. Go and knock on the doors of businesses in your local area and show that you are willing to turn up. There are still many job opportunities in this country.

In conclusion, we live in a wonderful country. There are many opportunities for many young people. I know that often the first job they take on will not be the job they have for life. We want to incentivise those young people and take away the perverse incentive to go from the school gate to the Centrelink office, but we have to have appropriate safeguards. This bill, with the other measures we are putting in place, achieves both of those aims and includes those important safeguards. I commend this bill to the House.

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