House debates

Monday, 22 March 2021

Private Members' Business

COVID-19: Employment

1:19 pm

Photo of Tim WilsonTim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Morrison government is proud to support young Australians throughout this difficult period to make sure they have the opportunity to secure employment and to progress with their lives. The previous speaker, the member for Kingsford Smith, made a number of disparaging remarks regarding the government's record. I would simply remind the member for Kingsford Smith of the experience that many young Australians had during the 1990s recession. Without wanting to reflect on your age, Deputy Speaker Wallace, I suspect you at least would remember that period. I was a young adult at that time, just coming out of high school and into secondary school, and I remember those experiences being a political awakening for me of the economic and human consequences when people find themselves unemployed. They find that they are not able to progress with their lives in the usual way, being able to do things like buy a home, advance their careers and provide security for their families. Of course for many people who were already in employment it meant taking a step backwards. The legacy of the 1990s recession, the recession we had to have under Paul Keating, led to a trail of human and social tragedy that far transcended the economic disruption, which was critical. Many of the people who lost their jobs never found jobs to be able to progress their careers again. Many suffered for years as they struggled to get ahead.

By comparison, since the COVID-19 recession that we had throughout last year, as a consequence of events outside our control, we have managed to turn around the economic circumstances and the job creation in a rapid period of time. That's because, firstly, we were prudent in the lead-up to the crisis, so we had the resources to throw at it to create the job opportunities for young Australians, and indeed all Australians, who found themselves displaced. But, critically, we had targeted measures to encourage employers to find a pathway for young Australians to get back into work. We did that because we understand how critical work is to people's sense of fulfilment and purpose in life. The very concept of dignity of work sits at the heart of who we are and what we stand for as a government. We know that once people are in a position to secure employment they're in a position to move ahead with their lives and, as I said before, secure employment, buy their own home, provide security and support for their family. That's then the foundation for them to then have retirement security as well.

Let's look at the hard facts. In February 2021 the youth unemployment rate stood at 12.9 per cent, more than double the unemployment rate for the overall labour force of 5.8 per cent. That is substantially down from where it was, where we saw young Australians bear the biggest brunt as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. We can take comfort in the numbers for unemployment overall, but we still need to keep targeting youth unemployment. That's why there have been critical measures like the JobMaker Hiring Credit, which is available to employers for each new job they create over the next 12 months for which they hire an eligible young Australian. Employers will receive up to $200 a week for 12 months if they hire an eligible young Australian aged between 16 and 29, or $100 if they hire an eligible young person aged between 30 and 35. The expectation is that with that investment to encourage or prompt employers to bring more workers on, and particularly to make sure that young Australians don't experience disruption once they finish their secondary school, their tertiary education and get into the work force, the expectation is not just that those young Australians will be able to go on and live fulfilling and productive lives, though we do expect that; they will not just go on and make a contribution to the collective wellbeing of society by taking care of themselves and their families and sharing the cost to society by paying tax, though they will; it is also expected that we will be able to provide 450,000 positions for young Australians to be able to live out their ambitions to secure employment so they can have the foundation for success in their lives. And we provided funding like $21.9 million to connect more young Australians to youth specialist employment services and targeted support services, including providing transition to work strategies for those who are leaving school and need opportunities as well.

This government understands clearly that young Australians, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, face barriers. Our job is to smooth them over and make sure they are able to go on and live the full success and dreams of their life.

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