Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Assistant Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question, and let me say that he is indeed a member who is in tune with the needs of business and a member who cares passionately about the subject of employment, particularly generating opportunities for young people. The good member raised the issue of Work for the Dole, and I was pleased to be able to host that in his electorate, one of the 18 regions in phase 1 of Work for the Dole. It has been very successful, and the good member noted the comments of the member for Hervey Bay, Ted Sorensen, about the importance of Work for the Dole.

The insight the good member has given in relation to the importance of those soft skills is shared not only by employers in the electorate of Hinkler but also right round the country. In a survey of over 3,000 employers by my department, in their responses employers were saying that the best thing young people could do to improve their prospects of getting a job was to improve their attitude in the workplace and the way they present in the workplace. Work for the Dole has an important role to play in giving young people those important soft skills that the good member referred to, such as turning up on time, being dressed appropriately, knowing how to treat customers in a business and knowing how to get on with your workmates. They are skills that we who have been in the workforce for many years take for granted but regrettably they are skills that some young people, who perhaps have not seen anyone in their family working, do not have.

I am pleased to advise that Work for the Dole goes national on 1 July as part of the $6.8 billion Job Active program—a huge investment in getting people from welfare into work. Work for the Dole goes national, giving young people some important skills to assist them on the first rung of the ladder of getting into the workforce. Work for the Dole is not a policy in isolation; it is part of a broader suite of measures. As part of this year's budget we have introduced the National Work Experience Program, which will give people four weeks work experience, probably in a commercial environment, which will allow young people to demonstrate to an employer the sorts of skills that they can bring to a workplace. It will allow a young person to demonstrate to an employer exactly what they can do, that they are up to the job, that they are keen, that they are willing and that they are supported by an employment services system into that role. It is part of a continuum, because supporting the National Work Experience Program we have a range of flexible wage subsidies.

A likely pathway that a young person could have for getting into work might be starting in a Work for the Dole placement and showing his Work for the Dole supervisor that he is keen, that he wants to work and that he turns up every day on time, and as a result being offered a work placement by his employment service provider to get in with an employer for a four-week period. At the end of the four-week period the potential is there for eligible job seekers to have a wage subsidy to help them—a wage subsidy of up to $6,500 to help the employer offset the costs of bringing in that new person. So we see a very clear pathway which potentially integrates Work for the Dole but not necessarily. A young person could go straight into the Work Experience Program without having done Work for the Dole, but it would be a likely pathway: Work for the Dole through to work experience through to a permanent job. Isn't that a great outcome? It is the sort of outcome that the government wants to see.

It is very much part of our strategy of getting people into work where we have a very flexible system. We had a system under Labor, under the old Job Services Australia, that was mired in red tape and bound up in bureaucracy. It was a terrible program to the extent that there was far too much red tape and that red tape was hampering employment service providers getting people into work. We are getting rid of that red tape. Job Active continues that process with much less red tape and a much greater focus on outcomes. The outcome that we want is getting people into a job. The outcome that job seekers want is getting people into a job. And the outcome that employers want is having people presenting at the gates of their business with the necessary skills to allow them to get by in that business and contribute to that business. It is a very good program. Work for the Dole is an important part of it, work experience is an important part of it and wage subsidies are an important part of it.

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