Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am sure the member for Gippsland had a very similar experience, actually. What the Howard government failed to do was invest in the training of young people to participate in that growth in jobs. Filling those vacancies that occurred in Sydney, Melbourne and everywhere else was very much the responsibility of a government that sat back, sat on its hands and failed to invest in training and skills development over the period when it had the opportunity to do so.

We know that the issue of employment participation is more complex than just punishing the long-term unemployed. It is about skilling and reskilling people and providing them with a suitable incentive, as I said from the start, so that they can actually go the extra mile and get the job. There is a certain amount of hunger associated with that and, to some extent, we need to encourage people to have the drive to actually go and do that. We need to break that chain, particularly in long-term unemployment. We cannot be a modern society, a compassionate society, and tolerate long-term generational unemployment. That is not compassion; that is not something that you would expect from a modern society that cares about people and the future of the country.

This is particularly the case as we address the issue of long-term unemployment. This is an important amendment. It is an amendment that will send a message to all those seeking work that we as a government take their search for work very seriously. This amendment will demonstrate that the Gillard government's commitment to workforce participation to ensure the continued growth of the country is certainly addressed. It is certainly an amendment that deserves the support of both sides of this chamber because it goes not only to looking after the interest of individuals, not only to looking after generational aspects of having a job and what that means to your children into the future; it sets the example that shows you can achieve in this country through education and participation in the workforce.

I commend this amendment bill to the House and I, for one, am very keen to advocate in support of the amendments throughout my electorate because I know this is where we will see considerable benefits over the years to come as there is greater participation in the Australian workforce and the breaking of the scourge of long-term unemployment.

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