Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

As has been evident through the course of the consideration in detail, there are quite a few members within this chamber that have expressed deep concerns about the program design that will be supported by this bill. We think this is a major new initiative by the government, which we have expressed concerns about from the get-go that this has been rushed through, not thought through and that the program design has flaws in there that could cause real problems for young, unemployed Australians. No-one for a moment is suggesting that youth unemployment in this country is not a problem; it is a problem. No-one is suggesting that new measures do not need to be considered, particularly given the performance of, for example, the Work for the Dole program that is unable to provide jobs for young Australians. Three months after they have completed Work for the Dole, nearly 90 per cent of those participants do not find work. They are not in full-time jobs. As I said during my contribution in the substantive debate, I was stunned at the blase way in which the departmental secretary said that Work for the Dole is not about finding a job. That would come as big news to the bulk of Australians who expect that a program like that will get people ready for employment. That program is tanking. This government has not found a way to reverse the slide for that program.

They have now come up with this program, a program which I note is modelled on overseas programs, and others have also observed that this has been modelled on attempts overseas to do similar things. In its submission to the Senate inquiry that is underway, the ACTU raised valid concerns, which were dismissed by the Minister for Small Business—

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