Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This bill, in substantive form, is being reintroduced into this House today after it was rejected in the Senate by the opposition and the Greens.

This is an important bill, an important measure, which is titled the youth employment bill because it is designed, together with the other measures in the budget—the more than $330 million we have put into the budget—to support young people in getting into employment. They are important measures, addressing those who suffer disadvantage and other impediments, for them to be enabled and empowered and made capable of being able to enter the workforce.

That is what this bill was about the first time we introduced it, in the 2014-15 budget, that is what this bill was about when we re-engineered it, for the last budget, and it remains about that purpose today. This is about sending the right message to young people, about encouraging them and incentivising them into work together with a package of measures that is all about removing disadvantage so that young people can get into work and choose work not welfare.

This bill reintroduces, with minor modifications, some of the measures previously introduced in the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment and Other Measures) Bill 2015, which was negatived at second reading in the Senate on 9 September 2015. The bill also introduces several additional amendments relating to young job seekers.

The one-week ordinary waiting period currently applying to Newstart allowance and sickness allowance will be extended to youth allowance (other) and parenting payment. The measure will also tighten the existing severe financial hardship waiver, and change the current rules so the ordinary waiting period is served after any other waiting periods. However, the bill makes sure Widow allowance claimants will not be subject to this waiting period.

From an intended delayed start date of 1 July 2016, the age of eligibility for Newstart allowance and sickness allowance will be increased from 22 to 25. Young people between the ages of 22 and 25 may apply for youth allowance (other) instead. Young people aged 22 to 24 in receipt of income support before or on 30 June 2016 will not be affected, and will remain on the higher Newstart rate.

The maximum age of eligibility for the youth disability supplement will also be increased to 24 for recipients of youth allowance (other). This change in age requirements will align payments for young unemployed people with those for students, reducing the disincentive to continue study. There is greater flexibility to earn while on youth allowance, so this change will strengthen the incentive for unemployed 22 to 24 year-olds to seek part-time work.

The 2014 budget measure, Stronger Participation Incentives for Job Seekers under30, which sought to introduce a six-month waiting period for under-30s applying for Newstart allowance, youth allowance or special benefit, will no longer be implemented. These measures contained in this bill will be replacing those, as its predecessor did also.

Instead, this bill reintroduces a four-week waiting period for under-25s applying for youth allowance or special benefit. This measure is intended to start from 1 July 2016, and will only apply to job seekers assessed as job ready. Job seekers affected by this measure will also participate in rapid activation pre-benefit activities to ensure they are looking for work.

Emergency relief funding will be made available to provide assistance to job seekers, affected by the measure, who are experiencing hardship. This measure encourages young people to make every effort to look for work and maximise their chances of finding a job. The exemptions contained in this bill are there to protect the vulnerable, the disadvantaged, for those who are not job-ready, for those who, in the most difficult of circumstances, are unable to go back to their own home. That is the government's policy, because of things such as family violence or things of that nature. There are strong exemption measures contained in this bill to protect the vulnerable but to encourage the able to go—and not go from the school gate to the Centrelink front door, to not choose that path—and choose the path of work.

If you do not have a job, income-support payments may be able to replace some of the income you will no longer have or you are not earning but it cannot replace a job in the life of an individual or of a family that may be dependent upon that job. It does not replace the sense of purpose. It does not replace the incentive and ability to fuel the aspiration of individual Australian citizens. Income support, Newstart, youth allowance, cannot replace a job; it only can replace part of the income you may have received from that job. It is this government's policy to focus on getting young people on a pathway to work not on a pathway to welfare. That is what this bill is designed to do in coordination with the other measures, those measures of more than $330 million supporting youth employment measures to do that.

See this speech in context