Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Casey for his contribution. In rising to speak on the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Self-Employment Programs and Other Measures) Bill 2022 I firstly want to recognise the history of this scheme, going back to 1985. Some 200,000 people have taken the opportunity to start their own business since its commencement. Many of them would otherwise have continued to rely on social security or veterans entitlements payments.

I say at the outset that nothing pleases me more than seeing somebody who has gone through some struggles in life, and maybe been on a social security payment of some sort, be able to find their way back into the workforce or start their own business. I say that because we well know the impact of long-term unemployment on people's health and welfare. As we look at some of those impacts it's important to bear in mind, as a number of speakers have already mentioned in this debate, that at the end of the day we're talking about a program and at the end of that program are people. Those people might be individuals or they might have a wife and kids, they might have a family. Ultimately what we're seeking to do with all of these programs is give these people a hand up to be able to live to their full potential.

That is why I support programs such as this and other programs like the Australian Small Business Advisory Service and the mentoring and support we provide to small business through those programs. We know that, if people are long-term unemployed or disconnected from the workforce, there are a range of impacts on their lives: loss of income, most evident; for some of them, social exclusion and loss of freedom in that they don't have the capacity to do what they used to be able to do; loss of skills; for some, psychological harm; and, for some, ill health and loss of motivation. It can impair or undermine relationships in the family and in the broader community. Certainly I've seen situations in my community where kids were playing in local sporting teams and, sadly, one of their parents became unemployed and those kids were no longer playing sport and no longer connected to those support groups that help them grow and become better people. They're just some of the issues that you can see quite readily with people on long-term unemployment.

Programs like NEIS are so vital in helping those who have a motivation to start their own business take that step—and it is a big step. It is certainly not for the faint hearted. There are plenty in this chamber who have run their own small business over the years. As I talk to many of my small businesses around my electorate, I hear of the challenges that they face every day: getting new employees or working with their existing staff; being paid by suppliers or by customers on time, depending on the business that they're in; dealing with supply chain constraints, as we are seeing at the moment; and dealing with the impact of COVID over the last couple of years. For many of these small businesses their house is on the line each and every day and so is their family's future and welfare. I'm pleased to say that, when we were last in government as a coalition government, we had a tremendous track record in this space, seeing not only the growth of small business across our country through programs such as NEIS but also more generally and, more importantly, the additional number of people in our workforce as a result of our policies—some 1.8 million people.

In addition to that, the coalition government transformed the way employment services are being delivered across the country, with the introduction of Workforce Australia. This commenced on 4 July this year. Workforce Australia brought together the Department of Education, Skills and Employment's workforce, employment and skills initiatives under one single identity. I was recently talking to one of my new local Workforce Australia providers, and I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of their clients who they'd successfully placed into work locally. Both of them were tremendous success stories. They had been long-term unemployed for a significant period of time and had worked with previous employment service providers with not a lot of success. Since coming on board with Workways they had both obtained new jobs and were very appreciative of that opportunity that was being provided.

That's so important in terms of the measures that were implemented by the former coalition government that I, and my colleagues here on this side, were part of. At the end of the day, we were passionate about getting Australians off welfare and into work, for many of the reasons I outlined earlier. We've seen that that brings an enormous benefit to our society as a whole. The other day, the finance minister and the Treasurer reflected on the budget bottom line improvement, because the government's paying out less in welfare payments than were budgeted for. That's a direct result of the former coalition government's work across the economy but particularly in the employment space. We saw the unemployment rate in May 2022, when we left government, at 3.9 percent—a 50-year low. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens by supporting people to build their skills and capability to enter into work or to start their own business and giving them the confidence to do so. The coalition government's previous employment services system saw nearly two million placements since it was established in 2015. The success of this system was a key to getting our unemployment rate so low.

In addition, a couple of speakers have reflected that, in part, this also reflects the fact that, during the COVID period, our borders were closed and we didn't have the overseas migration that we had had, and our businesses had to increasingly turn to the locally available workforce. I acknowledge also the comments of the members for Casey and Sturt—and I know the member for Barker is here in the chamber, too—in relation to the issues that that has provided for our agricultural sector and the workforce shortages and difficulties they face. Equally I've had that discussion with businesses in my electorate.

As I reflect on the discussion I had recently at a committee hearing with the Reserve Bank Governor, I remember well the day when I started in the workforce—and, in those days, businesses trained staff. Now, we talk a lot in this place about training packages and skills incentives and a whole range of things. I don't remember many of those being in place when I started in the workforce—some 40 years ago, roughly. I would say—and even the Reserve Bank Governor reflected on this in our hearing the other day—that it is incumbent on the business sector to be prepared to start training its workforce again. We can't just have a situation where employers continue to pinch staff from another employer or rely on the people that they need for their workforce being in the market. They need to start training within their businesses again.

Now, can we fill some of those gaps with a considered, thoughtful, immigration process? Absolutely. But we also need to take into account the other impacts that is going to have. I acknowledge, as the member for Sturt said, that labour mobility is an issue when you have house prices at the level you do, rents at the level you do and rental vacancies at the low levels you do; it is also hard for people to move to areas around our country to take on job opportunities that may be there. So all of these things need to be looked at as we move forward.

To return to the bill: the bill makes some consequential amendments, but, importantly, it keeps the program in place and ensures that it's consistent across the board. But I'll go back to my earlier comments: it is the former coalition government that set up the systems and the processes that we now have in place that underpin our record low rates of unemployment. I would like to see those rates continue to fall as we continue to see people trained and encouraged to enter into the workforce and fill the jobs and skills gaps that we presently have—because we still have some 1.3 million Australians that are unemployed or underemployed. You can't tell me there are not the skills and the capabilities in many of those people to fill the many jobs we have on offer in this country.

So am I calling on the government to continue to do and to build on the work that we did when we were in government? Absolutely, because we've demonstrated in the figures that what we put in place works. But I'm also issuing a challenge to the business community to take up the mantle and the challenge: to start training their workforce, to fill some of these gaps, to create the skilled workforce we need for the future. But I commend this bill to the House.

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