Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to also speak in support of the Social Security Amendment (National Green Jobs Corps Supplement) Bill 2009. This bill amends the Social Security Act 1991 to allow a training supplement of $41.60 per fortnight to be paid to participants in the program who receive Newstart allowance, youth allowance (other) or parenting payment. This new payment will be available for those who undertake the National Green Jobs Corps training between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2011.

There are many benefits that will come as a consequence of this initiative. It will give up to 10,000 young people the opportunity to develop green skills through 26 weeks of accredited training and work experience. Importantly, this initiative targets low-skilled job seekers between the ages of 17 and 24 who are on income support. The added benefit is that this provides assistance to those most vulnerable in our communities, especially in times when there is a downturn in the economy. Of course, we are not just experiencing a downturn in the economy; this country has seen and been part of the global financial crisis.

This initiative also provides assistance to people who have left school without employment or who have lost employment early in their working life. This is a step up. This is a helping hand to give them skills to move on. This initiative enhances future employment prospects for these young people. It contributes to efforts to deal with future skills shortages, providing the necessary skills for green and sustainable jobs into the future. These are all important elements of this initiative.

In areas like my local community in the electorate of Petrie, we need to have experienced and trained people on projects dealing with bush regeneration, erosion control, developing community information and education—which is extremely important—beach and dune rehabilitation and habitat protection. These are all very important issues in my electorate, which has so many important environmental areas—waterways and bushland. Our backdrop is Moreton Bay. We have Hays Inlet, which is already an environmentally protected area, and we have many environmental groups working to ensure the protection of species in that area. We have the Tinchi Tamba Wetlands, and again we have many fantastic local community groups working to protect that area. We have Cabbage Tree Creek, and we have groups that work along that creek to protect and regenerate the area and to help with erosion control. If people between the ages of 17 and 24 who have not completed their schooling and do not have a year 12 equivalent qualification are able to help those people to provide additional skills and help in these important areas of our community, that is certainly something that should be acknowledged.

The government is not focusing just on the protection of our environment through this initiative. The government’s focus is of course jobs. Our initiative encourages people to ‘learn or earn’ after they have left school. That is why this initiative is welcomed. It forms part of a larger commitment by this government to young people, especially through the Compact with Young Australians. Unfortunately, in my electorate of Petrie, especially in the northern end, the global financial crisis has had an impact on jobs. Even though the Rudd government’s Economic Security Strategy and Nation Building and Jobs Plan have resulted in lower unemployment rates than would have otherwise occurred, it is accepted that jobs have been lost and unemployment has increased.

Clontarf, in my electorate, in March 2008 had an unemployment rate of 4.2 per cent. In the March 2009 quarter we saw that increase to 5.2 per cent. In the Redcliffe-Scarborough area in March 2008 we had a 3.2 per cent unemployment rate. That went down to 2.7 per cent in June 2008, a welcome decrease in unemployment. But in March 2009 we saw that rise to 3.4 per cent. In the Rothwell-Kippa-Ring area in March 2008 we had a 3.3 per cent unemployment rate. In March 2009 we had a four per cent unemployment rate. In the southern end of my electorate, in Stafford Heights, in March 2008 we had a 2.8 per cent unemployment rate. In March 2009 we had 3.3 per cent. Deception Bay, a new area in the proposed electorate of Petrie, in March 2008 had an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent. This area is now experiencing a six per cent unemployment rate. Young people in these areas are particularly vulnerable.

In areas in outer northern metropolitan Brisbane, a lack of adequate public transport exacerbates any downturn in employment opportunities. This is an issue on which I will continue to advocate strongly for improvements on behalf of my constituents and constituents in surrounding areas. These are, however, longer term objectives. What are needed now to deal with the effects being felt in my local communities and communities right across Australia are initiatives that provide opportunities. Programs such as the National Green Jobs Corps provide our young people with opportunities to learn new skills. I encourage the young people who are on income support in my local area to take up this initiative in the new year.

Participants in the National Green Jobs Corps will have the opportunity to undertake work experience and skill development, including 130 hours of accredited training leading to a nationally recognised qualification. I am pleased to note that there is flexibility built into this program to ensure that our young people with a partial capacity to work, or young parents, will have their hours of participation specifically tailored to their assessed capacity. It is very important that the National Green Jobs Corps is made flexible enough to accommodate these needs. We do not want to be excluding those most vulnerable in our community, especially our young people, from being able to participate. I am grateful that that flexibility exists.

As I have stated, the National Green Jobs Corps is part of a large compact of the Australian government with young Australians. Under the Australian government’s compact with young Australians, all Australians under the age of 25 will have an entitlement to an education or training place, subject to admission requirements and course availability. Young people who leave school early without adequate qualifications are at high risk of becoming disadvantaged and remaining out of the workforce for extended periods, especially in tough economic times. It is, therefore, important to create conditions that maximise the number of young people who remain in, or return to, education and training to get the qualifications and skills they need to be competitive in the current tight labour market as well as when the economy recovers fully.

As a person who left school at 15 years of age and returned in their early 20s, I was the type of person that these programs are aimed to assist. I was fortunate enough to see the merits of returning to study at night school to further my schooling while still balancing full-time work. Not everyone is able to take this leap without assistance, without direction and without the support that comes from the Compact with Young Australians. I am certainly grateful to see initiatives like this for those young school leavers who have not completed their qualifications to be able to get back into training and the workforce.

The Australian government, together with state and territory governments, through the Council of Australian Governments, COAG, has agreed to implement a Compact with Young Australians to ensure that all young people under 25 have the education or training they need to improve their qualifications and ensure that they are skilled for a more productive and rewarding life. The Compact with Young Australians gives young people a very clear message by putting education and training front and centre—education and training are the keys to their own and Australia’s future prosperity and wellbeing.

The compact is designed to communicate the importance of education and training for young people, provide an education and training entitlement, ensure consistent standards for young people across Australia through a National Youth Participation Requirement, help lift attainment in education and training and qualification levels and strengthen conditions for some income support payments. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of the Minister for Education, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Social Inclusion, the Hon. Julia Gillard, for the development of this compact and the work undertaken by the minister with the states and territories through COAG to have this compact endorsed.

I also take this opportunity to acknowledge the work being undertaken currently by the Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth, the Hon. Kate Ellis, for her efforts in the national conversation with young people. Recently two of my young people, Marina Kuchmenko and Taylor-Jo Connolly, travelled to Canberra to participate in the roundtables held by the Australian government. It is important for us to understand the views of our young people in developing policy, legislation and new programs. Employment is a very important part of that conversation. We need to identify new ways to engage with our young people, encourage them and support them to complete their education and to assist them to progress to either further education or employment opportunities.

I applaud COAG in the targets that it has set under the National Youth Participation Requirement. To commit to a target of 90 per cent of 20- to 24-year-olds attaining year 12 or equivalent or certificate II or above by 2015 is an ambitious target but a target we must achieve if we are to give our young people the best start possible. It is also imperative to our aim to ensure that we have the skilled workforce necessary for a strong economy into the future. This bill and the National Green Jobs Corps are other positive steps forward in the Compact with Young Australians. This bill will provide opportunities to young people in my local area that are needed and welcomed. I commend the bill to the House.

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