House debates

Tuesday, 2 February 2021

Matters of Public Importance

Employment

3:50 pm

Photo of Luke HowarthLuke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services) Share this | Hansard source

Happy new year to you, Mr Deputy Speaker O'Brien, and a happy new year to all parliamentarians. The Morrison government want it to be a happy new year for all Australians too. We want to see all Australians in work and doing well throughout 2021. The government have invested over $260 billion in combined health and economic support to help Australia through the crisis—to keep Australians safe, to keep businesses open and to keep workers in employment. Our plan is to act decisively in the interests of all Australians, to keep them in jobs and to get more Australians into jobs as the economy recovers from COVID-19.

The Morrison government gives thanks to all 25 million Australians for we are nearly unmatched around the world in our comeback. Australia is certainly a wonderful place to live. As the Prime Minister was saying this morning in the party room, you wouldn't want to be anywhere other than Australia at the moment. Ninety per cent of the jobs that were lost are already back, with 748,500 jobs being returned to the economy over the last seven months. The unemployment rate fell from 7½ per cent in July last year to 6.6 per cent in December. Consumer and business confidence is recovering, and this will be further supported by the vaccine rollout, which the Morrison government is funding through Medicare.

At the same time, the Morrison government's JobKeeper payment, supporting apprentices and trainees wages, kept over 3.8 million Australians in work and a further 117,000 Australians in training. In my own electorate of Petrie, Pilpel, a local restaurant, kept its doors open, thanks to JobKeeper and other support from the Australian government. That restaurant gave back at Christmas. It held a dinner for hundreds of community members, including the homeless, to help give a little Christmas cheer.

Specsavers told me that they would have had to lose staff, but instead they kept their doors open. Tradies are busy at the moment. The Morrison government's HomeBuilder is supporting record new home sales. Also, of course, due to the lack of travel, people are investing locally and in their own homes.

We are in a good position in Australia, but there certainly is more to do. Every member and senator in this place can play their part. The Australian government is focused on the Australian people. That's why we're here. That's what drives us. That's what we will continue to focus on throughout 2021.

The government's $74 billion JobMaker is a key element of the government's economic recovery plan and will support economic activity and higher employment. In assisting Minister Cash in her portfolio, this includes boosting apprenticeship commitments to give more people the skills they need to get back to work and delivering the JobTrainer fund in partnership with states and territories for 340,000 additional training places that are free—funded by the Australian government—or low fee to give jobseekers and school leavers skills. Youth employment has increased by 240,000, almost a quarter of a million, since May, but there is more to do.

The Morrison government is delivering the JobMaker hiring credit, helping to accelerate growth in employment by giving businesses incentives to take on younger employees. Young jobseekers will not be at risk of becoming long-term unemployed and reliant on welfare. We are investing $4 billion to support young people into work through the JobMaker hiring credit. The JobMaker hiring credit will support around 450,000 young people to move into employment.

The Labor Party, those opposite, should explain to young Australians why they have opposed every youth employment measure that the Australian government has introduced. It's disappointing that, in the first question time of 2021, the Labor Party started question time with a lie in relation to industrial relations. Here in the Morrison government we want to get people back to work. That's why the fair work amendment bill, the industrial relations changes, that the Morrison government has planned will simplify the Fair Work Act. This, I believe, can help reduce underemployment and casualisation, which those opposite always talk about. At the moment, the act encourages casualisation as opposed to permanent part time. The JobMaker hiring credit, as I spoke about before, will continue to help people. The recovery will not look the same in all communities for all Australians. Every MP and senator has a role to play. (Time expired)

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