Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

between the ages of 55 and 65 is on either an unemployment benefit, a carer's benefit or a disability benefit. If they're on the unemployment benefit, there's a one-in-three chance that they've been sacked—that is, they're not unemployed voluntarily; they have been sacked, and it takes twice as long for them to find their way back into the workforce, if at all. This mob over here looks at them and calls them shirkers. They think they're bludgers, sitting on the couch Netflixing. That's the way they see these workers. We see them as lost potential. We want to get them back into a decent job so they can work for the rest of their working lives. If they're on a disability pension, again, this mob sees them as shirkers. They've probably had a job their entire life. Working in manual work has its toll on the body—the back's gone, the knees are gone, perhaps they can't work outside because they've now got so many skin cancers their body is not up to it. This mob sees them as shirkers, with not an answer in the world for them. Perhaps it's a life tragedy—a partner gets injured, a child with a disability, a partner with a disability who is the carer for their partner. This mob? Not one answer for them. This is the situation, and they are blind to it—not an answer in the world. (Time expired)

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