Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was pleasing to hear the previous speaker complimenting the previous Green Corps program, which came about under the former coalition government. The National Green Jobs Corps, under this Labor government, is basically a Work for the Dole program with a green bent. It is a shadow of the highly successful Green Corps program, which was axed by this government. Green Corps was established as a volunteer youth development and environmental training program, giving young people the opportunity to help preserve the environment and Australia’s cultural heritage. It was a program based on the successful Work for the Dole program, which was actually piloted in the electorate of Gilmore under the auspices of the equally successful but now defunct organisation the Shoalhaven Area Consultative Committee.

As a vehicle to encourage unemployed youth into work, it had no peer as far as programs in Gilmore were concerned. Something like in excess of 70 per cent of participants went on to gainful employment after picking up invaluable work skills, contacts and, most of all, motivation. As it was a voluntary program, the people who engaged with Green Corps had the ambition to better themselves. Not only did the participants help themselves but also they helped our local environment in practical terms and helped raise awareness of environmental issues. Thousands of trees were planted, hundreds of kilometres of fences were erected, acres of land were refurbished and tonnes of weeds were removed. It also brought together farmers, oyster growers and Landcare groups, a most unlikely mix. The publicity from their activities helped the public to understand some of the more common issues with the local environment, such as land degradation, weeds, fencing to minimise the impact of stock, revegetation and why trees need to be planted.

I have lost track of the number of projects that I have launched since the inception of the program in 1996, but I well remember the infectious enthusiasm of its youthful participants, not to mention those who ran the program in Ulladulla, Kiama and Nowra, groups such as the YWCA—and I sincerely thank them for their participation over the years—and the Milton-Ulladulla Landcare group, just to name two. Working in partnership, they gave the participants the drive and determination to succeed. It was my practice to shout dinner after the end of each project, as an acknowledgement of the contribution of these fine young Australians—who came from all walks of the community—as long as they had stayed together as a team for the six months. Of course we excused those who had got a job in the meantime.

The program targeted the 17- to 20-year-olds. The major difference between the Labor government’s replacement program and its predecessor is that participants will be paid a training supplement and it has been opened to 17- to 25-year-olds. The program was trumpeted as creating 10,000 new jobs, but the initial euphoria cooled and the minister has now taken to calling these jobs ‘work experience’. Whilst the creation of green jobs is a commendable goal, there is no guarantee that the work experience will result in a transition to a real green job. Nobody has yet actually defined what a green job is, so the government has ample latitude to creatively work towards its target.

Because this new program does not start until the new year, until we see it in practice we will have no idea how it is going to run or where it will be located. I just hope the government realises that Gilmore is part of the Illawarra, as there have been forums held there and, as the federal member, I have not been invited. However, we can only speculate hopefully that the National Green Jobs Corps will follow the path of Green Corps, because that was such a fruitful program. Concerns have already been raised that the new program is vulnerable to creative contortions to assist placement agencies in meeting their funding objectives. Due to the structuring of payments to participating agencies, it has been suggested that, should the participants leave the project to take up paid employment and not be replaced, the training providers will also lose funding.

Greening Australia’s South Australian CEO, Mark Anderson, has already suggested a way around the problem by taking programs beyond the prescribed 26-week period of work experience. Were such an option widely adopted then surely that would add to the cost of running the program. The supplement, when combined with participants’ income support payments, is less than the amount participants received under the previous Green Corps program but it is a doubling of the Work for the Dole equivalent. To me, the big difference is that the Work for the Dole program is mandatory but with Green Corps you have actually got people who want it to work. Even so, will the supplement cover individuals’ out-of-pocket expenses for getting involved to make the exercise financially worth while? The amount of $41.60 a fortnight is probably ample if a participant only works on the program one day a fortnight, but its value would certainly erode rapidly for multiple days over the course of a fortnight. So it is fair to ask whether the supplement constitutes a reasonable incentive for the target group to join in the program.

Section 556B(2) of the bill says that a person will be paid the supplement for each fortnight that contains a day on which the person has participated in the program in the previous fortnight. Frankly, I cannot see the point of participating in the program for any more than one day a fortnight if that is the criterion for getting a supplement allowance. Green Corps participants often stay on the location for days, just to get the job done. I have little dispute with the provision of the bill, but I will reserve my judgment on the effectiveness of the program until it is up and running. There is a paucity of detail on the mechanics, but if it is as effective as that of Green Corps then I will certainly be happy. The test of this program is whether it will lead to real jobs after this period of work experience. The government’s promise of creating 50,000 new Green Corps jobs is a big call—and, for the sake of our young unemployed, I wish them all the best. But tell us: how many green jobs are for the Gilmore electorate, and where and when will they start? I have a final question for the government. If a person engages in this program are they technically employed or will they still be counted as unemployed? If they are to be excised from the rollcall of the unemployed then I congratulate the government on its creativity.

In finishing my comments, I want to thank all those who have participated in the past, particularly the Milton-Ulladulla landowners, the local farmers—it was a big call for our local farmers to be involved in the previous Green Corps jobs—and certainly our oyster growers. But most of all I would like to thank our local YWCA, who did such a superb job of contracting these Green Corps jobs in the electorate of Gilmore.

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