Jim Turnour (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the Social Security Amendment (National Green Jobs Corps Supplement) Bill 2009. It is another tool in the toolbox that the Rudd government has to combat the rising rate of unemployment that we face in this country. Through no fault of their own, many families and young people throughout the country have lost their jobs or are concerned about losing their jobs as a result of the global recession that grew out of the global financial crisis. That is particularly a problem that we face in Cairns, in Far North Queensland, with unemployment hitting 13.8 per cent in September this year. Sadly, the indications are that it will get worse before it gets better as we go into the wet season and the quieter time of the year for the construction industry and the tourism industry—both foundations of the Cairns economy. It is important that the Rudd government puts in place initiatives to support the economy nationally, but also in local communities like my own, and continues to do work to ensure that we are supporting jobs into the future. That is very much what this legislation is about.

The Social Security Amendment (National Green Jobs Corps Supplement) Bill 2009 will enable a training supplement of $41.60 per fortnight to be paid to participants in the program who receive Newstart allowance, youth allowance or parenting payment. This is important particularly given that many young people are being hit hard by the global recession. As young people leave school and try to get jobs in these times, and there is a lack of jobs, often people with more experience take up the opportunities that may have been available to them in the past. This is particularly the case in Cairns, where the participation rate is high at 71.3 per cent. We have high youth unemployment at 14.6 per cent and teenage unemployment at 27.9 per cent. The National Green Jobs Corps builds on lessons that we learnt during the downturn that we faced in the 1990s. I was involved in some of the programs that were brought forward, LEAP and REAP, which were about engaging young people and getting them involved in tree planting and environmental maintenance work. This initiative will enable us to again engage young people in work that will keep them occupied and get them trained so that they are well placed for a job into the future.

There are a lot of things happening in Cairns in relation to unemployment. I see the Minister for Resources and Energy and Minister for Tourism at the table. I would like to thank him for the support that he provided to my community last year when Qantas cut flights between Cairns and Japan, which hit our local community hard. Working with the minister and the local business community, we were able to put in place a $4 million support package for Cairns, which was very welcome. That provided not only marketing funds but also funds for industry development. Minister Ferguson ensured that Tourism Australia allocated another couple of million of dollars to ensure that we were marketing in the international community, in terms of the work that they were doing to drive tourists back to Cairns.

The tourism industry is still being hit hard. Many young people look for jobs in that industry. It is important that these sorts of measures are brought forward to provide young people with opportunities that may not be in the tourism industry, so that they can get work and provide input into the environmental sector. The environment is very much why people come to tropical North Queensland. We have the Great Barrier Reef and the wet tropical rainforest. I see the member for Herbert here today. I am sure he would nod in agreement that we have some wonderful environmental icons in the far north and in North Queensland.

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