Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Youth Jobs Path: Prepare, Trial, Hire) Bill 2016.

I recommit to this House that I am here to represent hardworking, aspirational Australians who want to apply their own efforts to succeed. I am here to create an Australia where young people, regardless of their financial and social situation, can work hard to reach their full potential—whatever that might be. I am here to make sure people, particularly young people, find meaningful employment and fulfilment.

The government has drawn together feedback from business and the preliminary findings of the Investment Approach analysis to design the innovative Prepare Trial Hire program that will make a difference to people's lives. Youth Jobs PaTH intervenes with early investment and training to get people into work and off lifelong welfare dependency. The program will increase young people's employability and provide them with real work experience to get the start they need in the workforce. It will focus on making sure young job seekers know what to expect when they get into the workplace, but also what is expected of them. They will know when to turn up, how to dress, how to behave. They will know the usual routines that go on in a workplace—something that young job seekers who have not had that experience do not know. Missing out on these essential skills does affect their employability.

Employability Skills Training will make sure young people have the right attitude and approach to work—making them reliable and well-presented employees. Young job seekers will participate in intensive pre-employment skills training within five months of registering with jobactive, training that will help build practical industry skills, like working in a team, presentations, effective communications, IT skills and job-hunting skills.

Training is great, but practice and practical application let you learn new skills and refine your skills much faster. Voluntary internships of four to 12 weeks will give young job seekers time in real businesses. Up to 120,000 placements over four years will help young job seekers gain valuable work experience. Businesses and young job seekers will be able to co-design internship placements. Giving job seekers and the businesses the flexibility to co-design training placements that work pragmatically is a great step forward and is so important.

Young job seekers have an opportunity to learn how to arrive at work on time, in the correct dress standard and with the relevant tools for the job; to learn how to take instructions and complete tasks; and to negotiate and compromise with the people they work with; to interact with customers and represent their work place. These are skills that are transferable and relevant in all sorts of life situations; these are skills that make job seekers so much more employable. In addition to gaining valuable hands-on experience in the workplace, young people will receive $200 per fortnight on top of their regular income support payment as an incentive to participate in work experience. This bill will ensure these payments are not considered as income for social security purposes. Employers will also receive an up-front payment of $1,000 and will benefit from the opportunity to see what a young worker can bring to their business.

So, jobseekers have had training and have refined their skills with their workplace experience—now they need a job. From 1 January 2017, Australian employers will be eligible for a youth bonus wage subsidy of between $6,500 and $10,000 if they hire a young jobseeker under 25 who has been in employment services for six months or more—a much smarter way of leveraging what the community would otherwise spend on welfare payments. Taxpayers expect their taxes to be invested in making Australia even better; they do not expect them to be simply redistributed to those who do not use that investment in them to improve their employability. This bill will also make sure it is easier for eligible young people to return to employment services and have their income support payment restored if their wage subsidy supported job is ended due to no fault of their own.

We cannot underestimate the empowerment of having a job—the personal value of contributing to our community as a taxpayer and the boost to self-esteem and physical and mental health. Prepare-Trial-Hire helps to instil confidence in young people. It is all about helping young Australians by getting them ready, giving them a go and getting a job. This government is improving lives with pragmatic solutions to get more people into work. I have the same determination as the chair of the government's social policy committee: early intervention can mean the difference between a young person stepping out into a productive working life and entering a cycle of long-term welfare dependency.

Australia cannot afford to leave thousands of young people rotting away on welfare. There is a big difference between my colleagues and I who sit on this side of the chamber and those who sit opposite. The difference is that a great majority of the members on this side of the House have employed people. Those opposite have not had the experience, have not taken the risk and reaped the rewards and the satisfaction, of giving someone a job. They do not know what it is like. If a young person came to me having applied their effort, having completed training and refined their skills, I would be much more inclined to offer them a job than if they had not. What a contrast with those who sit back and feel it is their right to get a handout without any personal obligation or responsibility to improve their situation. I was disappointed to hear the member for Hindmarsh, who spoke just before me, mention that he was not sure if there would be a fair deal for young people. A fair deal? There is $200 a fortnight for someone in addition to their income support to go out there and experience a job, to experience what it is like being employed and to learn skills. That is more than a fair deal.

A mother contacted me in the lead-up to my election to this place. Her son was struggling to find a job and hoped that I could help with government support. I agreed to meet her son, but I took a very different approach. I asked him, 'What have you done to help yourself?' I wanted to know whether he had a good work ethic before I would be able to put my name towards supporting him into a job. I helped him to line up a week's work experience with a hardworking small-business owner operating not far from my electorate. I said I would happily help him find a job and give a reference if he was a hard worker and applied his own efforts to succeed. And he did. He turned up on time for work experience. He worked hard. He tried his hand at a whole range of new tasks, including putting his forklift ticket to good use. Do you know what? He enjoyed it. He enjoyed getting up every morning, and even texted me one morning saying that he was quite sick, but he was going to push through because of the opportunity that we had given to him to prove that through the application of his effort he could improve his own circumstance in life. He enjoyed the satisfaction of getting the work done. Through the application of his effort, with the work experience opportunity given to him, he has avoided taking the first steps into our welfare system.

This government is committed to ensuring that young jobseekers find work as quickly as possible. The Australian community rightly expect that young people should participate in the work force to their full capacity. This is what the government is committed to. It may mean we invest more now to get people out of the welfare trap and on a real path to work, but we will save billions otherwise spent on lifelong dependent welfare recipients and their lost opportunities. We are about making lives better. The Youth Jobs PaTH Program seeks to meet these expectations by helping job ready young people to maximise their chances of finding work and avoid moving onto long-term welfare.

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