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

I am still, of course, waiting for one question from the member for Boothby in this entire parliamentary term. One day you may get a question, and I am waiting for it. In answer to the question from the member for Banks, we are not only providing new services as the result of extensive and broad consultations with employment providers, employers, not-for-profit organisations, training providers and others; we are also ensuring that those services are more effective in assisting workers to link up to training and training providers and to ensure that there is an integrated approach. For example, when a job seeker needs services in this country, that job seeker can go through one door and access the services that he or she needs, rather than go through four or five separate doors. This integration, this one-stop approach, will be more effective for those job seekers, and for employers in this country who are looking for skills now and when the economy recovers.

We know these services are a reflection of the consultations and we know that they will commence from 1 July. They will be working in tandem with the massive training agenda of this government. There are 711,000 training places that will be rolled out by this government. Ninety thousand have already been rolled out and undertaken by people across the country; 319,000 of these are dedicated to out-of-work Australians, many of whom have lost work through no fault of their own. We need to ensure they are given every opportunity to equip themselves with the skills that are needed now and, of course, which will be needed when the economy recovers. We will continue to respond as we have done with the nation-building infrastructure initiatives and with these packages to provide support for out-of-work Australians, ensuring that they have the opportunity to either find work as quickly as possible or find the training that will equip them with skills so they can fill existing vacancies or future vacancies when the economy recovers.

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