Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Self-Employment Programs and Other Measures) Bill 2022. The former coalition government transformed the way employment services are being delivered with the introduction of Workforce Australia. From 4 July 2022, Workforce Australia has brought together all of the Department of Education, Skills and Employment's workforce, employment and skills initiatives under one single identity. Workforce Australia replaced jobactive and the current employment services network. The New Employment Services Model, also known as Workforce Australia, is now in place and is providing more personalised services to better target jobseeker needs, invest in those jobseekers who need it and make greater use of digital technology. This bill is a result of that change. It is a technical bill that effects changes in the name of the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme, NEIS—as a result of the change to Workforce Australia—to the Self-Employment Assistance program, to ensure that payments made under it are treated in the same way as for other NEIS payments.

The coalition is passionate about Australians getting off welfare and into work. When we left office in May 2022, the unemployment rate was 3.9 per cent—an almost 50-year low. This did not happen by dissent. Getting people off welfare and into work was at the forefront of every decision the previous government made. The coalition government's previous employment services system, jobactive, saw nearly two million placements since it was established in 2015. The success of this system was a key factor in keeping our unemployment rate low.

The new employment services model, Workforce Australia, was developed by the previous coalition government over a number of years and commenced on 4 July 2022. The new model seeks to build on the success of jobactive and give jobseekers the best opportunity to find employment through a tailor-made approach. The former coalition government spent a number of years working with jobseekers, providers, peak bodies and employers on developing a model that works for all and supports a pathway for Australians off welfare and into work. It will eventually become a one-stop shop for Australians and Australian businesses to find work, retrain and find access to other government initiatives in employment and skills. This bill continues the realisation of that policy scheme and architecture and will assist in achieving the intentions of that scheme.

The New Enterprise Incentive Scheme, known as NEIS, has helped almost 200,000 people start their own business since it commenced in 1985, many of whom may otherwise have continued to rely on social security or veterans entitlements payments. The program helps people move off income support by creating their own job. In turn, many of these businesses have created work for additional people.

The Self-Employment Assistance program commenced on 1 July 2022 to replace NEIS assistance throughout Australia. There is one exception, which is Norfolk Island, where NEIS will continue because there is an existing deed in place that does not expire until 2023.

Turning to the detail of the bill, in addition to the assistance available to help participants start and maintain their own viable small business, such as small business training, coaching, mentoring and other support, Self-Employment Assistance and other NEIS participants can receive a fortnightly payment of $642.70—equal to the single no children rate of Jobseeker payment—for 39 weeks and, if eligible, rent assistance for up to 26 weeks.

The main amendments in the bill in schedule 1 will make clear that the family, social security and veterans entitlements laws operate in the same way in relation to Self-Employment Assistance payments as for other NEIS payments. This is necessary because of the name change. These changes are primarily in sections relating to the treatment of entitlements, and they clarify in legislation that the Self-Employment Assistance payments are to be treated in the same way as for other NEIS payments. For example, the Family Law Act 1975 defines 'income tested pension, allowance or benefit' as a pension allowance or benefit prescribed by the Family Law Regulations. For that purpose, those regulations refer to payments made under NEIS so that such payments are included within the definition. This must be changed to reflect the Self-Employment Assistance program. This is an appropriate change, as Self-Employment Assistance is similar to other NEIS assistance, the difference being that Self-Employment Assistance participants will have more flexibility in choosing and accessing the support that best suits their circumstances.

Schedule 1 also means that, if Self-Employment Assistance is given a different name, the family, social security and veterans entitlements laws will continue to operate in the same way—provided that the employment secretary makes a notifiable instrument giving notice of the change—without the need for a future bill. This is worthwhile because it means we can spend less of the chamber's time with bills like this and focus more on further measures to support employment in Australia.

With the new employment services model in place, it builds on work done by the former coalition government in getting more Australians into employment. Indeed, the record of the former coalition government's investment in Australia's workforce had the consequence of reducing Australia's level of welfare dependency to the lowest level in 30 years. Under the former coalition government Australia was successfully brought through the pandemic, and with that came historic low-unemployment rates. The unemployment figure of 3.5 per cent is a testament to that. From the time our Liberal-National coalition came to government in 2013 to the May election in 2022, some 1.8 million Australians came into work with the benefit of the policy frameworks that we established.

We were determined, from being first elected in 2013, to put in place strong economic policies and labour market programs to stimulate a recovery of the economy and to support Australians into work. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the strong economic management of the previous coalition government had supported the creation of over 1.5 million jobs. The economy was growing, Australia had a record labour force participation, the unemployment rate was 5.2 per cent in March 2022 and the budget was in balance for the first time in 11 years. The then government's long-term plan for jobs and growth meant that we entered the COVID-19 crisis from a position of economic strength.

Our former employment services programs played an essential role in supporting economic recovery by increasing labour force participation and helping workers transition to new jobs. These programs, which included jobactive, Youth Jobs PaTH Program, Transition to Work and ParentsNext, are working and they helped to ensure that Australia bounced back from COVID-19 and that we saw more Australians getting into work. Thanks to these programs, hundreds of thousands of Australians have been assisted to improve their employability and to gain employment, with jobactive having supported over two million job placements since its introduction in 2015.

To assist Australians back into work after this once-in-a-century pandemic, we improved services for the most affected regions and the most disadvantaged jobseekers. Across 25 regions we established a presence with the local jobs program, with a funding of $62.8 million. Employment facilitators developed local jobs plans in 25 regions, in collaboration with local stakeholders, employers and training organisations.

The New Employment Services Model, known as Workforce Australia, is now in place and is providing more personalised services to better target jobseeker needs, invest in those jobseekers who need it and make greater use of digital technology. Workforce Australia was the biggest reform to employment services since the Howard government's reforms in the 1990s. This is a strong demonstration of the previous government's commitment to helping Australians into work and to modernising one of the most significant expenditure areas of government. That is a record which this side of the House takes pride in, and we continue to work, if now from opposition, on supporting the provision of increased employment opportunities.

I want to briefly highlight, as part of this policy architecture, some of the other significant achievements. The Morrison government funded $6.2 million for 26 jobs fairs from June 2021 to June 2022. There were 47 jobs fairs held between July 2019 and December 2021. We introduced the Employer Reporting Line for businesses to report instances where individuals were not meeting their responsibility to seek work and not taking that responsibility seriously—for example, through submitting inappropriate job applications, failing to attend job interviews or refusing a suitable offer of employment.

ParentsNext is a pre-employment program that helps parents plan and prepare for work before their youngest child starts school. The former coalition government expanded ParentsNext, so more Australian parents will be in a position to access vital assistance to help them prepare for or return to work, providing a $24.7 million boost, as a result, to employment services.

This bill builds on a policy architecture established and championed by the previous coalition government with a view to getting more Australians into work, and it's been a very successful program.

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