Robert Oakeshott (Lyne, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, in light of the continuing flood and wind recovery efforts underway on the Mid North Coast and North Coast of New South Wales across four electorates, in light of this being the third natural disaster in three months of this kind, in light of ongoing regional impacts of the global banking collapse felt on the ground through such examples as one local council now writing off $25 million of its investment portfolio and up to 5,000 local residents being caught by the recent collapse of three locally managed funds, in light of unemployment rates for the Richmond-Tweed and Mid North Coast now breaking 10 per cent last month, in light of employment rates and participation rates being the lowest in the nation right now, income levels being the lowest in the nation right now and tertiary education levels being some of the lowest in the nation right now and in light of poverty levels across these four electorates being some of the highest in the nation right now—in light of natural disasters, financial disasters and ongoing structural disadvantage for the Mid North Coast and North Coast regions—will you now look to increase government support and attention to our region along the lines of the seven Australia-wide Jobs Fund regions recently announced by your government?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. He legitimately points to the difficulties which have been experienced recently in the Richmond-Tweed, Clarence Valley and Mid North Coast on the back of natural disasters but also, more broadly, on the impact of the global economic recession on the communities which he represents. Therefore, he legitimately raises questions of what can be further done in his area.

I was speaking with the Minister for Employment Participation about the member’s area recently as we looked at unemployment data from across the country. The member represents an area which, from recollection, looking at the data from April, is north of eight per cent—8.3, 8.5 per cent. Therefore, in terms of those priority areas which the government is seeking to address additional efforts to at the moment, it would, from our point of view, qualify for further consideration by way of additional assistance. In my discussions with the Minister for Employment Participation we have agreed that this should be designated as a priority employment area—that is, the area of the Richmond-Tweed, Clarence Valley and North Coast. We would also confirm to the honourable member in response to his question that we will proceed with the appointment of a priority employment coordinator for this area as well.

The particular mechanism that the priority employment coordinators are deploying across the nation is to engage with local communities, their business leadership, their community leadership, their local government leadership and local church and charitable organisations and to work together to come up with practical projects which could form the basis for further investment from the community jobs fund, which is a fund that we provided support for in earlier allocations from this parliament nationwide of some $650 million. In response to the announcement of that fund we also made it clear in statements from the government that in our Jobs and Training Compact with Australia we would be implementing compacts with young Australians, compacts with those Australians who have been retrenched through no fault of their own and compacts also with local communities. This particular program comes off the back of compacts with local communities.

In the seven areas that we currently have designated around the country we have already, together with the Minister for Employment Participation, addressed local community seminars about practical projects which could be supported. Further, in conversations with the minister recently I understand that in response to the first round of seeking applications from the community at large we received more than 3,000 applications—I am looking for a prompt from the minister here—

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment Participation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

3,000-plus applications from around the country. Therefore, there will be further rounds which will be sought for expressions of interest from local communities. I would invite the honourable member and other affected local members in this region to work with the priority employment coordinators once they are appointed in terms of working on particular projects which will have effect in their area.

What I would say more broadly about the challenge of unemployment is that, as the global recession has deepened and the recession has inflicted damage on the Australian economy and on the workforce more generally, it underlines again the absolute importance of a Nation Building for Recovery program of the type which the government has outlined in this parliament over the last two weeks and prior to that as well. That provides an additional injection of activity in the economy. Again I emphasise something which the Treasurer correctly put to the House before, which is that in the absence of the government’s action to date—through, firstly, our stimulus payments in October last year; secondly, the Nation Building and Jobs Plan, which was released in February this year; and, thirdly, the measures contained in the budget—the 200,000 jobs that we are providing support for on the back of those investments in the Australian economy for each of the two subsequent years would otherwise be lost. That is a huge number in the overall dimensions of the size of the Australian workforce. Therefore, what we have sought to do on top of that is to provide additional support, in particular areas of intense unemployment activity, through the application of local jobs funds.

I therefore thank the honourable member for his question. I would encourage him, together with the member for New England, the member for Page and the member for Richmond in terms of the particular area we are speaking of—Page, Richmond, Lyne and other affected areas—to work closely with the local employment coordinator and get applications in for what will work locally to try to bring that unemployment rate down a further notch compared with what it would otherwise be, building on the back of the Nation Building for Recovery plan that the government has outlined comprehensively in the parliament.