Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source

I will not take up too much more of the House's time, but I do have a couple of concerns. Prior to me coming to this House, this was an area of my own employment. So it is something that I am particularly passionate about. The focus of this program needs to be about young people. What I am not aware of, and what is not detailed in the legislation, is: what career mentoring will be provided to the young person to ensure they are placed in a work setting that will fit with their talent and their career goals, or will they just be shunted anywhere that suits the jobactive provider?

The minister has mentioned health and safety. In relation to my previous question, he said that it was in the legislation. But I could not see in the legislation any specific legislative protections for young people. I note that the minister, now responding to the questions, has detailed that this is not an employee-employer relationship. Therefore, my concerns are even more heightened about the protection of young people, vulnerable people—many of whom, as the minister acknowledged, have not even been in a work placement before. How do we know that they will be safe and respected in the workplace and that they will have rights and protections?

I would like to ask why jobactive providers were chosen to deliver this. Why are they in the legislation? Why not Transition to Work providers? That is a government program. We know that they tendered out the program to youth specialist providers and organisations that are recognised and well respected across the industry. They know how to work with young people and they get the best out of young people. So why would this program be working through jobactive providers and not Transition to Work?

Another query I have particularly relates to my electorate and to all rural electorates across Australia. If you are registered training organisation as well as possibly being the successful provider of this program, you will not be able to train your young people in your RTO as well as place them into employment. I understand that the government was probably trying to ensure that there was not double-dipping—it is one of those favourite words at the moment. However, when you are in a regional area, there is often one organisation and that organisation often only has one or two staff members. So it is really going to be impossible in regional and rural Australia for this program to be effectively delivered—and that is where I believe we need this program to be delivered the most.

In relation to the training, I would also like to say that, from my reading of the legislation, a young person will not receive that $200 per fortnight while they are in the training component of this program; it is only when they are in the placement. Again, how do you afford to get to training? Anyone who is on youth allowance is only getting just over $400 a fortnight to live on if they are on the independent rate. Out of that, they have to feed themselves, they have to clothe themselves and they have to cover rent. It is so far below the poverty line that the idea that we would have an expectation that a person would also get to their own training without any subsidies—which are provided under Work for the Dole but not under this program—while you are in the training component—seems grossly unfair.

I would also like to talk about the trades and industries that will be targeted. I am very concerned that this will be a program that essentially will be picked up in hospitality and in retail—areas where we know it does not take 12 weeks to train a young person. We certainly do not need any more baristas; what we need are plumbers, painters, electricians and hairdressers. We need people to work in a variety of areas where we know that there are career opportunities for young people where they will very quickly learn a range of skills that are transferrable and will have a certificate in their hand and they will not be making coffee at age 29 and waiting on tables. These young people deserve more than that.

I would like to go back to a couple of other issues that I have raised previously. I am particularly concerned about the level of ministerial discretion and administrative discretion in this legislation. The government is spending an enormous amount of money on this program—so you have got to get it right. You cannot afford to waste this money and put young people, who are our most vulnerable people, in the workforce in a worse situation.

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