Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That is it. It is good that we have a lot of these initiatives that are going to help young people get into their first job.

We all know that people with jobs experience a boost to their self-esteem, meaning they have more drive and motivation to apply for, and continue in, employment. And, hopefully, they will be able to proceed along those lines. There is no government welfare program that can deliver those benefits. There is no welfare program that can benefit anybody quite like a job can. That is why the employment programs that we have introduced are so important. It is why I am proud to stand on this side of the House with a suite of employment programs aimed at mobilising the unemployed and getting as many as we can into an appropriate job.

You may have heard, Mr Deputy Speaker, that we have just recently rolled out the Youth Jobs PaTH program, which will benefit those in the largest city in my electorate, Geraldton. I have to say: I just saw a media release before I left. The City of Geraldton itself has taken on a couple of interns with respect to this program. That was literally before I came here. That is, indeed, good news. The reason why it is good news is Geraldton, at the last assessment, had an unemployment rate of about 8.5 per cent, which is some 2.5 per cent above the state average. So they need all the help they can get. So good on the City of Geraldton for taking on a couple of young interns. My electorate of Durack, as a whole, has 3,700 young people aged between 15 and 24 who are not currently employed. This needs to stop. This has to be addressed. This is urgent. This is what this government is aiming to address. Geraldton really needs more employment programs just like I have described. I am very glad to see that this program has been rolled out.

The other thing that I would like to touch on is the shipbuilding program and the benefits that Western Australia will get from defence spending. This is why we need to be supporting our businesses and our industries, so there is actually a job available for young jobseekers to take. We need to promote those industries that encourage the employment of our jobseekers. In Geraldton, I recently hosted the Centre for Defence Industry Capability and the Department of Defence, and I represented the Minister for Defence Industry, Christopher Pyne, in detailing how the important $89 billion naval shipbuilding program could provide opportunities for the city and the region, and more broadly for regional Western Australia.

We know that there is a tremendous degree of skill in Geraldton and more broadly in the Mid West with respect to the marine industry. But there is also a high degree of engineering capability in the city, coming off the back of the mining industry, which could be diversified into the shipbuilding, maintenance and sustainment work. In the Mid West there are several companies involved in the commercial boatbuilding industry and several more with potential to be involved in the supply chain for these vessels. This is really great news and a fabulous opportunity for anyone who is looking to diversify their business, because we know that the potential for a student currently studying in year 12 to spend their entire life working in the shipbuilding industry and also in Western Australia is now a real possibility, and it is something that we should celebrate every day we come into this place.

I am almost out of time, but to round out all the opportunities in the budget I just want to give another shout out to the Geraldton Universities model, which is going to allow regional kids to stay at home. This is what we strive for in regional Western Australia and in Australia more broadly so that a young person does not need to pack their bags and be a financial impost on their family. It is something I am particularly proud of. We got a commitment of $15 million in the budget, and it is certainly going to help young people to get the education that they deserve.

See this speech in context