Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Assistant Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

The members opposite will not want to hear this, but Aaron was able to tell me that he had secured a job, which was great news, through Work for the Dole. We know the members have spent their time running down the Work for the Dole program that they inherited from the Howard era, but this government is committed. I announced phase 1 last week of the revamped Work for the Dole which will scale up the Work for the Dole program. And today I released a survey, and that survey said:

Making basic adjustments to their attitude and physical presentation is the most effective thing that many young job seekers can do to improve their employment prospects.

That is why we are increasing the amount of Work for the Dole programs available. That is why we are increasing the number of opportunities for young people to develop the sorts of skills which have been run down under the members opposite.

We believe in the ability of Work for the Dole to deliver the skills that young people need to get a leg up in the workplace—to get that start that they need; to deliver the skills that employers want. We on this side of the House support Work for the Dole. The members opposite in their time in government ran down Work for the Dole.

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