James Bidgood (Dawson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of the Social Security Amendment (National Green Jobs Corps Supplement) Bill 2009. We will be moving in favour of the original motion. I have travelled the length and breadth of my very rural seat of Dawson, from Mackay all the way through to Townsville, and you are looking at 450 kilometres of some of the best agricultural land and some of the best coastline in the world. It includes the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforest. One thing that our students have consistently said is how much they enjoy the Green Corps and the things that we have done there to keep that going.

I have had the pleasure of being at many awards ceremonies for Green Corps, and it is so fantastic to see young people involved who perhaps would have been at a loss for something to do without Green Corps. It has enabled these young people to have a purpose in the community and to bind together with other young people in a common cause—clearing up creeks, riverbanks and land, and helping to grow crops in areas in which it is perhaps not normally easy to grow them. They have done those things with assistance from professionals at different levels of government—federal as well as state and local. I have been to a number of different award ceremonies in Mackay, and every single time I talk to the young people they say: ‘This is the best thing that’s happened. This is such a good thing.’

What we are proposing here is a bill for an act to amend the law relating to social security and for related purposes. That is what this bill entails. It is the right thing for this government to do because it invests in young people being active, helping the community and helping to rebuild natural pastures, river ways and shorelines.

My fellow MP Kirsten Livermore and I have been with the Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tony Burke, to visit an area near Sarina, just on the border of Dawson and Capricornia, to see what had been done to help stop beach erosion through various plantings. In Mackay itself, some fantastic work has been done in and around the botanic gardens. I was also privileged to visit a project further north, up in Townsville. There were quite a number of young people there, in the region of 15 to 20, who had done a major project. We drove in a four-wheel-drive to get there, because the land was pretty rough. It is by a sort of river or creek system. Floods had washed away a lot of the area, and the young people in the Green Corps has set about rebuilding the banks of this river by planting native species.

So Green Corps is a learning process and it is hands-on. As members would be aware, there are many styles of learning. Some people learn by hearing and some learn by seeing. But a lot of people, particularly young people, learn by activity—a kinaesthetic learning approach of doing and being involved, with tactile and hands-on experiences. They learn by being in the environment, with their hands in the earth and in the water. And they are helping to look after our natural resources. So it really is with great pleasure that I rise to speak in favour of this bill, without amendment.

I do not have too much more to say other than that I have seen the social benefits of the Green Corps scheme, the benefits to the community and to young people. I have seen the way that it created a work ethic in people who otherwise would have been unemployed and underutilised. It is a tragedy to see young, enthusiastic people with nothing to do. But this program, the Green Corps program, has enabled them to do great work.

Looking at the specifics of the bill, the explanatory memorandum states:

This bill will amend the social security law to provide for a temporary National Green Jobs Corps supplement for recipients of youth allowance (other), newstart allowance and parenting payment who participate in the National Green Jobs Corps.

The National Green Jobs Corps is a 26 week environmental work experience and training program which is targeted at low skilled 17-24 year olds.

I have seen first-hand how those young people can be mobilised and motivated, and engaged with the community and with each other, working as a team. It continues:

Additional financial assistance will be provided to these participants in the form of a supplement of $41.60 per fortnight while they are participating in the National Green Jobs Corps. This payment will be on top of their existing youth allowance (other), newstart allowance or parenting payment.

The supplement will be payable to those who commence in the National Green Jobs Corps between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2011.

That really is a substantial amount, and the financial impact works out in the following way: in the financial year 2009-10, we are looking at 0.9 per cent; in 2010-11, 1.7 per cent; and, in 2011-12, 0.9 per cent—a total 3.4 per cent increase. Obviously, the payments will be arranged through Centrelink.

I look forward to seeing the National Green Jobs Corps program implemented in full and giving lots of young people, not just in the seat of Dawson but across the nation, hope, purpose and motivation, making them feel useful and mobilising them to help their communities.

It is good to witness so many different projects where young people have often said to me, ‘We wish it had never ended; we wish we just could have kept on,’ because they enjoyed the work, the sense of fulfilment in seeing something happen as a team and being involved. Often the people who are involved in these programs are very lonely and sometimes socially isolated for various reasons. They come together as a team with a common cause, and I can truly say, having seen that on many occasions, that this is a good thing to back—this is a good thing to do. I would just like to say once again that I fully support the original proposal and would like to see that come into action as soon as possible. I look forward to that participation carrying through to 2012. Without further ado, I wholeheartedly commend and support the original motion.

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