Louise Markus (Greenway, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about a coalition program initiative, one of many but one which is very important to the future of our nation. The coalition initiative, like so many other coalition initiatives, is about jobs, about opportunity, about upskilling our young people and giving them hope for a better life. The program is so worth while that the Labor Party has introduced legislation to bring back the program almost identical to the way it was first framed back in 1997 when the coalition first introduced it, a program that between 1997 and 2007 enabled 16,000 young people to gain valuable experience across the nation. During this time around 80 per cent of those Green Corps participants completed the program they started, a program that, again, between 1997 and 2007 resulted in 56 per cent of participants within three months pursuing employment, education or training. The program I am referring to is the National Green Corps program, a program built on earlier work established in 1992 under the LEAP program, but with significant differences. Now the program is known by its new name, the National Green Jobs Corps.

Since the change of government in 2007 Labor have criticised and denigrated everything the coalition has ever done. At the same time they are happy to be the beneficiaries of the coalition’s strong economic management that saw a record $22 billion surplus and no government debt. No matter how they dress it up, it was the coalition’s economic legacy that pulled Australia through the past 18 months, not the cash splash or the reckless spending. I raise that point to illustrate the duplicitous nature of Labor. They talk of the coalition policy, attack coalition policy, yet behind the scenes they are quietly renaming and rebadging programs established by the coalition and announcing those programs as if they are something new. In a funny sort of way it seems that this is a bit of a compliment that Labor is paying the coalition.

One coalition program that I was particularly proud of was the National Green Corps program. Initiated in 1997, the program ran successfully for over 10 years until the Labor government decided to terminate it on 30 June 2008. Within a month they brought it back, extended the age eligibility, specified 10,000 places and introduced a temporary supplementary payment of $41.60. The rest was almost a direct lift from the coalition program.

In my local paper, the Hawkesbury Gazette, at the time that there was an announcement that Green Corps was to be stopped, there were a number of comments made by those that had benefited from the program, and I would like to talk just briefly about a program that was carried out at Kurrajong. Throughout their six-month journey the team planted a bush tucker garden and built a boardwalk at the EarthCare Centre on the University of Western Sydney’s Hawkesbury campus, held a tree planting festival, worked at the Community Nursery, and removed numerous weeds such as lantana from properties in the Kurrajong area. More than 500 trees were planted at the EarthCare Centre and they recycled 262 pallets to make the boardwalk. That is pretty incredible.

Some of the young people spoke about their experience. Monique Johnston said:

When I got this job I was so excited, mainly because it was a job and all I was worried about was making money and getting my mum off my back.

Then I started learning about the environment and as each week passed we were starting to bond really well.

This team is just amazing and they have always been there for me through the good and the bad.

I don’t know where I will be in five years but I know I can look back and remember what a great experience Green Corps was.

This was a girl whose self-esteem, confidence, perception and view of the future were turned around by this program.

The program was designed to give a hand-up to young unemployed people, and will provide 10,000 environmental work experience and training places for young Australians aged 17 to 24. The program begins on 1 January 2010 and will finish on 31 December 2011. I understand the government draws a distinction between the National Green Jobs Corps program and the Green Corps program under Jobs Services Australia. Essentially they are the same, but the National Green Jobs Corps targets a specific age group.

There is also an emphasis in the National Green Jobs Corps program on emerging green and climate change related industries. With the closure by the Labor government of the popular solar installation rebate program and the downgrading of the ceiling insulation program, the promise of work experience in those industries—particularly in states such as New South Wales—raises the question of whether those jobs will be fulfilled.

Under the National Green Jobs Corps program, 30 per cent of job placements will be in non metropolitan areas. That means 70 per cent of placements in jobs will be in metropolitan areas. The sort of projects they will participate in include: natural environment, water, conservation, community, cultural and environmental heritage, and of course, something that is very important, climate change. In addition, it is expected that all projects will, as a rule, take place on public land. The question has to be asked: how much public land is available given that 70 per cent of the projects are in metropolitan areas? Although there are some exceptions and work can be done on private land—for example, weed eradication and restoration of significant green heritage—I ask the minister to be a little bit more specific about the climate change jobs. Where are they, and what are they?

In regard to the private land opportunities, the information sheet on the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations website states that ‘projects may be allowable on private land where there is a defined community benefit, which exceeds the private benefit accrued to the landowner’. But who decides this level of benefit? Where is the transparency in the system to ensure that there is no exploitation? My concern and my commitment is to these young men and women who will go to the National Green Jobs Corps program expecting jobs at the end and it all peters out. I want this program to work, as many in this House do. I want to see young unemployed people in Australia have a chance to grow their skills and to grow their confidence and their capacity, but I do not want their expectations raised and then dashed.

The coalition did deliver, and we had a strong economic position that meant funding was available for ongoing programs such as the Green Corps. Our young people are our future. We need not only to train them and support them but also to provide opportunities for them. We need to ensure that there are jobs out there so that they can share in the wealth of this nation, so that they can plan for their future confidently. In closing, I would just like to read a statement, again from a Hawkesbury Gazette article on Wednesday 22 April. The national Greening Australia chief executive officer, David Williams, is quoted as saying:

While the Green Corps work experience program would still exist as part of the government’s new employment services program, it would be losing the elements of certified training, the teamwork, and real job experience of a long term of six months.

So this question has to be raised—and I hope it can be answered in a way that indicates our young people will be provided with jobs and that they will have employment opportunities created for them. I had the privilege of meeting a group of Green Corps participants at a project within my electorate. It was at a place called Second Ponds Creek which, historically, had a large planting of Cumberland Plain woodland. Unfortunately, over the years as land was cleared for pastoral and other uses, a number of the trees and also the significant flora and fauna of the Cumberland Plain woodland were degenerated. These young people came together and Greg Hunt and I visited them on an occasion when they celebrated their success. That whole corridor along the creek is now replanted and regenerated with Cumberland Plain woodland. The native birds, flora and fauna, are now back and growing well. I can tell you that eight of those 12 participants are now in paid employment. In fact, one of them works not far from my office in Windsor. It is wonderful to see these outcomes for our young people and my hope for this program is that this is what we will see for the 10,000 participants.

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