Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives great pleasure to talk about the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Further Strengthening Job Seeker Compliance) Bill 2015. Having purpose and having a job is very essential. In fact I hark back to a book I have been reading recently, quoting Henry Bolte, the once great 17-year Premier of the state of Victoria. He said, 'If you can ensure that people can get a job and then ultimately buy a house, much of the economy falls into place after that.' This is very true. We have to ensure that we create the economic framework for people to have a job.

The difference between the coalition and the Labor Party on this is how we get to that end. We recognise that governments actually do not employ people very much. It is small business that employs people. It is profitable businesses that employ people, and governments then come along and employ people in those services that surround the economic activity that is driven by business. So if we are going to create jobs then we need to have the economic climate and the opportunity to produce something: either dig it up and sell it, value-add it to make something to provide a service—whether it be an education service, a food service or a marketing service—or grow it. In doing those things we stimulate an economy, and in stimulating an economy we create jobs.

The thing that we have been very instrumental in during a very short time, just two years in the parliament, has been creating the opportunity: the opportunity through a free trade agreement with China, the opportunity through a free trade agreement with Korea, the opportunity through a free trade agreement with Japan and the opportunity through the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It rattled me a little bit when I listened to the previous speaker, the member for Bendigo, who has probably been one of the greatest opponents to the free trade agreement with China, and that disappoints me, because I always want to tell a little story about why extra market opportunities translate to jobs and to wealth in the country.

In 1991, when I was a 16-year-old, we were exporting sheepmeat to 12 countries across the world. We had a bit of a dry time. Sheep were worth 25c, and we dug pits, we lined up with guns and we shot those sheep. On our farm business, we are now exporting sheepmeat to 96 countries across the world. Think about that: 96 countries. Recently, a few weeks ago, we sold for $110 old ewes that 24 years ago we would have shot. That is what comes from opening up trading opportunities. What are the outworkings of that? The outworkings of that are on my property. We are able to employ quite a number of people—that is jobs. Jobs start by creating opportunities, and that is what are doing, and that is really the key focus.

I look across the electorate of Mallee that I represent. Four years ago, we had zero citrus into China. Now we have 10,000 tonnes of citrus annually going into China. Four years ago, we had zero shipping containers of table grapes, and now we have over 1,000 shipping containers of table grapes. All those are hand-picked. All the irrigation systems that are rolled out are ultimately being done by people, and that is jobs. The free trade agreements and those extra market opportunities have meant that, instead of having to take the price that is offered, we have more customers for the things we produce. We get more money in. More money then stimulates people to have more confidence, and they then employ people, and these are some low-skilled jobs.

It is true that, when we think about how we structure an economy, we have to have jobs for people of all different levels, and I am saying something today to the students of Australia who are doing their year 11 and 12 exams: do your best, but don't get worked up about your results, because we want to have a society that has all sorts of skills. Some people will become lawyers—I hope not too many of them do. Some people will become great tradespeople. Some people will be farmers and some people will be teachers. We want to have an economy that allows the diversity of jobs for a whole range of people so they can use their natural God-given gifts to contribute to society. But there also have to be obligations for laziness. We are not saying that there should not be social security, but there have to be obligations for laziness.

I was in the United States in July. We are not like the United States, and I am proud of that. In the United States, if you are unemployed, you get benefits for six months and then they are cut off. In those unemployment benefits you also receive health benefits, but, if you are not working and you are not paying your health insurance, that is also cut off. So you have a six-month period where people have to get a job and, at the end of the six months, they are cut loose. They are cut loose from the health system and they are cut loose from the welfare system. We are not proposing something like that. I do not think any fair-minded Australian would ever support something like that.

What we are saying and what the collective population of Australia is saying to a person who is unemployed is: 'We are going to support you to ensure that you have a roof over your head and that you are fed, but we want an obligation from you. That obligation is that you need to be actively trying to better yourself, either through training or through trying to get a job.' That might not mean you get to pick your dream job. If there is one thing I have learnt through my working career, as someone who did not go to university, is that the best way to get a better job is to be working in a job. When you are working in a job, you are showing to potential or future employers that you are motivated, that you are willing to turn up and that you are willing to get out of bed.

I see that we have children in the gallery. One of the great things about the children in the gallery is that they get to see their House, the people's House. I am going to give a great piece of advice to the children in the gallery up there: the secret to success is to look at what everyone else is doing and do a little more. So, if you work in a supermarket and people are stacking shelves, just do a little bit more. If you are working at McDonald's and you see someone working, just do a little bit more. Even in school, the secret to success is to just do a little bit more. My father always told me, when I was working—and I started by riding a pushbike to clean out horse stables as a kid—to never walk around with my hands in my pockets, because it makes it look like you are not working. It is about perception. If you want to be noticed by the boss and want to be noticed for success, just do a little bit more.

This legislation is really about saying that, for those who do not want to honour the agreement of benefits that are being provided to the Australian people, there will be consequences. So, if you are unemployed and you are in the process of trying to get a job—you are actively seeking and you are working with the bodies that the Commonwealth has funded to help you get a job—and you are trying your best, you have nothing to fear from this legislation at all. But, if you can find lots of excuses to not try to get a job, then I do not think it is unreasonable for the Commonwealth to say that there might be consequences to you not fulfilling your obligation.

In this bill there are financial penalties for failing to enter an Employment Pathway Plan. There are penalties if you fail to behave in an appropriate manner at an appointment, and that is fair and reasonable. If the Commonwealth is going to provide services and can help set you up for a job interview and you turn up at that job interview and actively do not want to try to get the job, then I do not think you are fulfilling your obligations to the people of Australia who are paying your benefits. There are obligations to take the job that is presented to you if it is fair and reasonable. As I said earlier, if you are working within a job, that is the best chance to get a job.

There is a capacity to try to get a more simplified compliance framework. We do not want people to be disadvantaged because they do not understand the system; we want to make sure it is clear that you are getting benefits and, as a result of getting those benefits, this is what we expect of you. Making it more streamlined is fair. We do not want people to be disadvantaged for ignorance. But we do say to job seekers: if you are unemployed, you are not just unemployed; your new purpose is to be a job seeker. It is our obligation as members of parliament to create the economic framework for that take place.

In creating the economic framework for that to take place, we also need to be very mindful that sometimes people find challenges in getting on the first rung of the ladder. People do not always have the greatest start in life. Some people do not always have the greatest role models to follow. We have to break the stereotype and that is the challenge. There are 600,000 Australians living in households where no-one has ever held down a job, which means that a child growing up may not know which role model to follow. That is why I am a strong believer in ensuring that there are also supportive services around to help people get on the first rung of the ladder. I think we are doing it. We are doing it reasonably well, but there is obviously more work to do on this. It can be a multiple approach.

I have a very strong Indigenous community in the electorate of Mallee. We have a program in schools called the Clontarf Football Program. Some might be aware of it. It started with a love of AFL and using AFL football to get people engaged and then help them get job-ready. In that program, quite a few businesses sat down with the Aboriginal kids and said to them, 'These are the jobs we have available.' The guys were so self-confident and had so much ability—they were going on to university or they were going to do this or were going to do that. It really has taken people who may not have got on the first rung of the ladder onto the first rung of the ladder. In Stawell, the community has 20 people in year 10 and, as part of their education, they have to do an interview to be in the program. Then, over a period of 20 days throughout half a year, they get exposure to a different career choice. They might do a day in a bakery and are given a heap of flour and finish by making a product. They might do a day in the council and will realise what human resources are. They may do a day in a law firm. So, over that 20 days they are exposing people to getting job ready. I think there are some real great models that we can roll out across Australia to ensure that people can get on the first rung of the ladder.

To summarise, the federal government's role is of course to create the economic framework. We are doing that. We are very mindful of that. We are doing that through our free trade agreements. We are creating market opportunities. We are trying to instil confidence in small business so that they will employ one extra person. If every small business in Australia employed one extra person we would not have enough people to fill the opportunities that would be available.

We are also providing a welfare system that is fair and is asking some obligations of those who are recipients of it. Then, we are doing a lot of work to try to get people to be able to attain the first rung on the ladder. Ultimately, this multifaceted approach is how we build society. I want to reiterate to young people who are doing their exams and studies at the moment: do your best—there are many jobs and many career pathways out there for you. There are many ways you can contribute to society and many ways you can contribute to making Australia great.

It is not unreasonable for the Commonwealth to ask obligations of those we are providing benefits to. The purpose in doing that is, ultimately, so that people who are receiving benefits can get off these benefits and then contribute to Australian society, stand a little bit taller and be a little bit more proud, because they have a job.

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