Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Hansard source

for next year, provided in areas of acute shortage.

But there's another area that we need to consider. When you have a tight labour market, that is a very significant challenge, but it is an opportunity for us to do something that's really critical for those people that have been locked out of the labour market for too long. We have many, many Australians—people with disability, First Nations people, women enduring economic insecurity, older Australians—who suffer discrimination in trying to get a job. They probably have an opportunity, probably an opportunity of a lifetime, because of the tight labour market. And this government is going to provide the support, working with business, to make sure they get chances in this labour market. That will be our pledge. We will provide the sort of support that's needed to provide people with disabilities and First Nations people an opportunity. I'm actually visiting Tennant Creek tomorrow and I'll be in Darwin with the Chief Minister not long after that to work on these issues in the Territory. I'll be doing the same in every state and territory so that we get this right.

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