Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Youth and Sport, Senator Colbeck. The youth unemployment rate in the Southern Highlands and the Shoalhaven in my home state of New South Wales is 20.5 per cent. With the IMF slashing Australia's economic growth forecasts to only 1.7 per cent in 2019 and 2.3 per cent in 2020—it's in the other folder—what is the minister doing to assist young people looking for work in New South Wales?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The one thing that we are doing is ensuring that we keep the fundamentals of the Australian economy strong—that's what we're doing—so that every young Australian has the opportunity for employment. As I explained yesterday, we've got a number of employment programs in place to assist young people to work their way through the system, but if, as the Labor Party projected at the last election, they had imposed $387 billion in new taxes on the Australian economy, where would the Australian economy be today? And how much of that $387 billion in new taxes did they project for youth programs?

They actually voted to remove youth programs that we put in place, so I don't intend to be lectured by the Labor Party with respect to how we manage the Australian economy. We have said that we will continue to maintain our economic settings by keeping the economy strong despite the global headwinds that have been projected by the IMF, and, in those circumstances, by opening up new markets—

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, please resume your seat. Senator Ayres?

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order on relevance: I wonder if the minister might be able to find in his folder one relevant point that he could make in relation to young people in the Southern Highlands and in the Shoalhaven, whose unemployment rate is 20 per cent?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the point of order: the minister was being directly relevant.

Honourable senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Cormann, I can't hear you.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No amount of condescending commentary will hide the fact that the minister was directly relevant.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, you were being broadly relevant. Part of the question was directly related to the Shoalhaven. I would just remind you of that. Please continue.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Deputy President. The point of order clearly demonstrates that the Labor Party clearly don't understand the link between the economy and the capacity of young Australians—or any Australian for that matter—to get a job. If raising a point of order such as that is their demonstration of how their view relates to the strength of—

Opposition senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, please resume your seat.

Opposition senators interjecting—

Order! Senator Cormann.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The interjections are disorderly; this is another level of disorder. Madam Deputy President, I ask you to call the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate to order. She's been harassing the minister, who has been trying to answer the question.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Cormann. Senator Wong.

Opposition senators interjecting—

Order! I need to be able to hear the point of order.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy President, on the point of order: I will always respond to a call to order by whoever is in the chair. I have to say that I thought I had been very gentle with this minister today. We have one in five young people unemployed in this region, so perhaps he could treat the question with some respect.

Senator Colbeck interjecting—

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister; I have identified that as a debating point. I remind all senators that the minister does have the right to be heard in silence and that interjections are disorderly. Minister, please continue your response.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Deputy President. The Labor Party can run all the points of order they like. They can make all the personal comments they like. After complaining about people being personal yesterday— (Time expired)

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ayres, your first supplementary?

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll try somewhere else, Madam Deputy President. The youth unemployment rate in outback Queensland is 24 per cent. With the IMF slashing Australia's growth outlook by more than global growth and by four times more than the advanced economies as a whole, what is the minister doing to assist young people looking for work in outback Queensland?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I said yesterday, the youth unemployment rate is too high. We acknowledge that. But the youth unemployment rate in Australia now is lower than it was when Labor left office. It is one per cent lower than what it was when Labor left office. That's why we put in place programs like the PaTH program I spoke of yesterday, which is to assist young people to get into jobs—

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, please resume your seat. Order! I need to be able to hear Senator Colbeck answer the question. Minister, please continue.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Deputy President. That's why we've put in place projects like the PaTH program—which the Labor Party voted against—to assist young people to get into work. Yesterday they were complaining about the fact that 30 per cent of those people were actually ending up in a job. That's why we have the Transition to Work program, which helps people who drop out of the system to get back into the system. I was talking to some of those young people just this morning to assist them to get them back into the program when they'd fallen through the system. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ayres, your second supplementary.

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The youth unemployment rate across the Barossa, Yorke and Mid North in South Australia is 24.7 per cent. What hope do young people have in the Barossa, Yorke and Mid North who are struggling to find a secure and well-paid job when the IMF is predicting a weaker economy in Australia than the US, Spain and New Zealand?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They have a damn sight better prospect of getting a job under the economy the way that we're managing it rather than having an economy that had the imposition of $387 billion of additional taxes. They have a much better chance of getting a job under this government than they did under them. The youth unemployment rate now is one per cent lower than it was when they left office. That's due to the programs that we're putting in place to assist young people to get into jobs and to get employment. By maintaining our strong economic settings we will continue to provide the opportunities. By opening up new trade markets, which we're doing through free trade agreements, we'll provide new opportunities for industry and business to grow jobs, particularly in regional Australia. It would be nice if the Labor Party indicated their support, or otherwise, of those free trade agreements, because it's been one of the things that's assisted this country to grow its economy since we came into government. (Time expired)