Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

We have heard a lot from the minister about the benefits of his Work for the Dole program. He has gone on a fair bit about the 18 new sites across the country. With all due respect to the minister, the 18 sites mean that the large majority of Australia will not have a Work for the Dole program. I am very curious as to what will happen to those young people—under 30, in stream 1 or 2, that will be required after six months to do Work for the Dole—when there is no Work for the Dole program in their local area. What is going to happen to these people?

He has also talked a lot about the benefits of the Work for the Dole program. Does the minister accept that evaluation of Work for the Dole has shown that only 35 per cent of participants end up in full-time paid employment after participating in Work for the Dole? Of course 35 per cent coming out and getting a full-time job is better than nobody getting a full-time job, and the minister referred to the fact that job creation and finding people jobs is the real solution to this.

The problem with the Newstart and the Work for the Dole measures is that they are applying in areas of very high youth unemployment. Parts of my home state of Tasmania have youth unemployment of over 20 per cent. Does the minister accept that there are no jobs there for these people most of the time and that the evaluation shows that the majority of them will not end up in full-time paid employment? Can he tell me what is happening to those people under 30 who are not in a Work for the Dole site and who will be required to mandatorily participate?

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