Amanda Stoker (Queensland, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, Senator Cash. Can the minister inform the Senate how a strong budget helps create stability and certainty for young Australians to help them get off welfare and into work through the Youth Jobs PaTH program?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Stoker for what is a very important question. This is a government that is committed to getting people off of welfare and into work. The greatest thing you can do for someone is to find them a job, and we have a very specific focus on getting our young people off welfare and into work. We have the Youth Jobs PaTH program. This is all about prepare, trial and hire. It's focusing on giving our young people who want to work the skills that they require to actually get into the workforce. Really importantly, it's the opportunity to have a go in the workplace, because the feedback so many of these young people give us is: 'We want to get a job. However, we have not been able to get a foot in the door,' and that is exactly what the PaTH program does. But we're also giving employers the incentive to hire and to continue to invest in this particular young person.

Since being introduced in 2017, the government's Youth Jobs PaTH program has helped over 50,000 young jobseekers into work. That's 50,000 young Australians who would otherwise be reliant on welfare. That is 50,000 young Australians who have the chance of a fulfilling career, something they tell us is exactly what they want. That is 50,000 young Australians who are helping to avoid the trap that is long-term unemployment. We are now going to expand the Youth Jobs PaTH program to include PaTH industry pilots. We're going to work directly with industry and give industry the direct opportunity to provide input, training, matching and support for young jobseekers. This is a government that is committed to getting our youth off welfare and into work.

Scott Ryan (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Stoker, a supplementary question?

Amanda Stoker (Queensland, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the minister aware of any success stories arising from the Youth Jobs PaTH Program?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the things that is so fantastic about this portfolio is that you actually meet people whose lives have been transformed by government programs. One such example is Janaya Paul. She's a young Indigenous woman from your great state, Senator Stoker. She's from the Gold Coast. She's landed a job as an apprentice mechanic, with the help of the government's Youth Jobs PaTH Program. She undertook employability skills training with a training specialist. The specialist, along with her jobactive provider, then helped her secure a PaTH internship with a motor mechanic on the Gold Coast. Following the internship, Janaya was offered an apprenticeship with the mechanics firm. She is now one of a growing number of female motor mechanics in Australia, and this is the message that she has for other women:

Being a female in a male-dominated industry, it can be daunting … But go get it. It's the best decision I've made …

This is a government that is committed. Let's get people off welfare and— (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Stoker, a final supplementary question?

Amanda Stoker (Queensland, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches to getting young Australians into work?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) | Link to this | Hansard source

Unfortunately those opposite, those who are members of the Labor Party, actually went to the last election with a policy to abolish the Youth Jobs PaTH Program. On this side of the chamber, we are committed to getting people off welfare and into work. We are committed, in particular, to getting our young people off welfare and into work and giving them every opportunity that we can to get those skills that they require before they can even get a foot in the door, to give them that opportunity for internship. So many of them say to us, 'We want to put our hand up and work.' But guess what? Because they don't have that experience, they're not able to get that foot in the door. This is exactly what the PaTH program is able to do for them—give them the skills they need, give them that opportunity to undertake an internship and get that foot in the door. Then we encourage employers to take them on and invest in them.