Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Employment (Senator Abetz) to questions without notice asked by Senators Urquhart and Singh today relating to employment in Tasmania and to the Renewable Energy Target.

My question, I thought, was quite straightforward, but obviously the Minister for Employment was not able to answer it. The closure of the Henty mine was announced on 7 July, with the loss of 150 jobs, sometime around 2015. The immediate closure of Mount Lyell mine was announced on 9 July. The minister said that Mr Whiteley had done a lot more than say to the workers, 'Go to Centrelink'—and I would be very interested to know what that was. In a press release that Mr Whiteley put out on 9 July, he said he would expect that the Premier will request that challenges confronting the west coast be put on the agenda for the next Tasmanian Economic Council meeting, to be held in the next few weeks. So there did not seem to be a lot of urgency from the member for Braddon to get on and look at what help they could provide to the people on the west coast given the announcement of the closure of the mine.

My question was going to whether the government had thought about maintaining the local employment officer—that position will be axed from 30 July. In May, Central Coast Mayor Jan Bonde put out a press release and there was a story in TheAdvocate. Responding to a question about the position of the local employment officer, James McCormack, being axed, she said:

James, along with Sarah Jones from Enterprise Connect, has been a catalyst for change in the region. In my experience, they are the two best operators in terms of helping to transform our regional economies. He has been able to build relationships with all tiers of government and the key employers and industry groups.

I would have thought that that role would have been extremely helpful to people on the west coast of Tasmania Mayor Bonde went on to say:

Jobs Services agencies operate under a competitive model and it is impossible for councils to work collaboratively to help improved employment outcomes without someone likes James acting as the point of contact.

He has the ability and relationships to cut across the silos and other boundaries to help create a more co-ordinated approach to identifying and addressing challenges.

So the local mayor talks about how important someone in that role is. But Mr Whiteley does not think that that is important. Without somebody in the local area to help pull all that together it is a very difficult and tough time.

The regional coordinator put together a regional employment plan, and in that regional employment plan there are five goals. Within those five goals there are 19 strategies. The report, Regional Employment Plan: North West/Northern Tasmania Priority Employment Area, talks about things like supporting employment, workforce participation and skills development, including through maximising government investment; helping retrenched workers transition into new employment and/or training; facilitating employment and training opportunities for job seekers, including disadvantaged groups, with a focus on industries experiencing skills shortages; facilitating opportunities for employment in new, emerging and growth industries; and developing industry and community partnerships to increase participation in employment and training. I would have thought that those key areas contained in that priority employment area plan were all things with which the west coast could dearly use the assistance of someone like a regional employment coordinator. But, no, the government does not seem to think that it is important.

But I am heartened because, after a lot of calls, today, at around 9.30 am or 9.40 am, Mr Whiteley gave a speech in the other place in which he said:

At the request of the state government, I have committed to working closely with my good friend Adam Brooks MP, who is leading the group to an outcome that results in this region restored as the economic powerhouse of Tasmania as it once was.

So we had the announcement two weeks ago that the mines were closing and the member for Braddon has now got up and said that he is actually going to be part of that. (Time expired)