Danna Vale (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is directed to the Minister for Human Services. Would the minister advise the House how people on welfare benefits are being assisted to find work? What practical steps is the government taking to ensure that long-term welfare recipients are getting meaningful assistance? Are there any other examples of the successful implementation of welfare reform?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is a good question from the member for Hughes. Before question time, the member for Hughes let me know that the unemployment rate in her electorate has now dropped to 2.9 per cent—a 2.9 per cent unemployment rate in her electorate. There are a whole lot of factors that help to create low unemployment. The first factor is that we need to provide jobs and make sure the jobs are out there. The best way to get that is through a strong economy, and this government has helped to deliver a strong economy. Then we need to have workplace changes. Through Work Choices, which has now been in place for 162 days, we have more jobs and higher wages.

We are doing our job in Human Services. Since Welfare to Work was introduced on 1 July this year, Centrelink has referred over 100,000 people to the Job Network. That also includes referral to the Disability Employment Network. In addition, over 25,000 Australians have had a job capacity assessment, where they have been evaluated for their capacity to work. In many of those cases they have been provided with rehabilitation services so that they can prepare for entry into work.

That is just a reminder of how important Welfare to Work is. It is all about the fact that Australia is running out of workers. There is a pool of around 2.7 million Australians of working age who are on welfare payments and whom we need to access in order to address the labour shortage in Australia. I was very interested in an article I saw this morning in the Australian.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am intrigued by the interjections by the Left here, because I am about to quote one of their fellows. In the Australian today, I read an article titled ‘US moves from welfare to work’. It begins:

In one of the greatest political and economic success stories of the past decade—

Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Tanner interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Melbourne!

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You should listen to this—

It goes on to say:

It was 10 years ago last week that then president Bill Clinton passed into law a bill requiring people to find a job or lose their benefits after five years.

That goes a lot further than what this government is doing. The article continues:

Critics warned that the 1996 law would be catastrophic for single parents and their children.

According to the article, one Democratic senator predicted that the US would leave children begging for money and begging for food. In fact, since those laws were introduced in the US 10 years ago, 1.6 million fewer children live in poverty in the United States as a result of welfare to work measures in the United States. As I say, our policies do not go as far as the policies in the US. But when you have a strong economy, when you have workplace change and when you are helping those most disadvantaged in the community to get into work, the recipe is success for Australia.