Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I think the member for Chifley is trying to be anti-something and negative about something which is obviously an unadulteratedly good idea. The concept of getting young people into jobs through pathways that they might not previously have considered is a very sensible program, a very sensible policy. It was wildly popular in the election, as Deputy Speaker Buchholz will remember—certainly in my electorate and, I assume, in his as well.

Under the internship element of the Youth Jobs PaTH, eligible young jobseekers will be given the opportunity to undertake work experience by participating in internships. This will give the young jobseekers a chance to show what they can do in the real workplace. Both businesses and eligible young jobseekers will be able to choose whether to participate in an internship and, to encourage eligible young jobseekers to undertake such an internship, participants will receive a fortnightly incentive payment from the Department of Human Services of $200. The fortnightly incentive payment will be paid in addition to the young jobseeker's social security payments and will not be counted as remuneration for work. So we are making every effort to ensure that young jobseekers will want to take part in these internships, because they will not lose any money—in fact, they will gain money.

The bill amends the Social Security Act 1991 so that fortnightly incentive payments to eligible young jobseekers placed in internships under the Youth Jobs PaTH are not deemed as income for social security purposes. An equivalent amendment to the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 is also necessary to ensure that the incentive payments are not counted as income for veterans' entitlements purposes. This is a program being administered by the Minister for Employment, and I have absolutely no doubt that it will be a great success that will lead to real jobs.

In terms of Senator Paterson's remarks in estimates, Senator Paterson is a fine senator from Victoria, and I am sure that whatever he has said is perfectly sensible. But as this is the first that I have heard of it, I would be unwise to comment on it.

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