Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Barker for all the work he's doing in his electorate, especially some of the innovative ideas he's bringing forward to assist businesses, not just to get workers into a job but also to get workers into a home. I thank the member for the work he's doing to champion that.

We can all see that the Morrison economic plan is working, with the Australian jobs market roaring back, about which the Treasurer has spoken to today. There has never been a better time for businesses to be hiring Australians than right now. The National Skills Commission, through the internet vacancy index, tells us that last month we saw a 13-year high, with 250,000 jobs available right now, a 7.8 per cent increase in October. We know not all jobs are advertised online, so we know there are at least 280,000 jobs available right now for Australians to lean into prior to Christmas.

I've just spoken to the CEO of Amazon, an impressive national CEO. She's got 1½ thousand jobs in Western Sydney right now. Right now, we know there are over 29,000 Australians on the jobactive network scheme in Western Sydney who are able to lean into those jobs. There are 902,000 Australians on jobseeker payment, and over 86,000 young Australians on youth allowance (other)—not in work and not in employment. We know that the best type of jobseeker or youth allowance (other), the best type of welfare, is a job. And we know that the best way to grow our economy is to move people into work. We also understand and appreciate the mutual obligation of Australians to put people into work, and I can report to the House that the Employer Reporting Line the Morrison government has put in place for those that aren't taking their mutual obligation seriously has received over 2,200 referrals, and 180 individuals are facing compliance action. It's clear the jobs are there now. They're there now for every Australian to take advantage of, and we would encourage every Australian to have a crack at those 280,000 jobs.

In July last year the member for Rankin said the biggest test of the government's management of the recession and its aftermath will be what happens to jobs. It's pleasing to say that we're seeing unemployment roaring back. The member for Rankin made it clear that it's about whether unemployment stays too high for too long—

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