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

My question is addressed to the Minister for Human Services. Would the minister advise the House what initiatives have been implemented to help Australians find work? How important are these initiatives in helping to address the growing demand for workers?

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

I would like to thank the member for Hughes for her question. As the member for Hughes knows, the best way to help create jobs is by having a strong economy. That is the first step. A second way to do it is to have structural reform, such as tax reform, but none more important than industrial relations workplace changes. The workplace changes that have been in place for 171 days have delivered more than 1,000 jobs a day since they were introduced by this government. The question is: how do we find the workers in Australia to go into those jobs? You might say, with 10.3 million Australians now in work—the highest number of Australians in work on record—and a participation rate of 65.1 per cent, the highest on record, that Australia is running out of workers. Well, we are about not only helping to create jobs but encouraging Australians to take up those jobs.

We are doing it in a number of ways. I am reminded that we had a seminar down in Wollongong in the seat of Cunningham, and that seminar was attended by Angry Anderson, whom some people in this place would be familiar with. Angry said: ‘The reason I hooked up with Centrelink is that they are making a concerted effort to show that they do more than just give people benefits.’ He went on to say that employment provided workers with self-respect and a sense of achievement. Hear, hear to that. He referred to that famous VB ad that many people might be familiar with, even if they do not drink VB. He said: ‘What the bloke in that ad was talking about was the rewards that come with a day’s work. It is an ethic that is so Australian. Work is about earning your place. It is so much more than just a pay packet.’ We agree.

The most fundamental thing we can do to help Australian families is to provide them with the opportunity to have work. That is the first thing that we can do to provide a better welfare system to Australians and that is the best thing we can do to improve harmony in the community. We have done that in two ways in particular. The first was that in November 2004 we started ringing up people who had no obligation to work and who were on welfare. We rang them and asked them if they wanted to work. We left out the Labor frontbench! Just by our asking them if they wanted to work, 200,000 Australians have been referred to the Job Network. The second program is a fundamental program. From 1 July this year, we started Welfare to Work, a program that the Labor Party opposed all the way. Since that time we have referred 100,000 Australians to the Job Network. Everything we do about creating jobs in Australia is opposed by the Labor Party, whether it be industrial relations reform, tax reform, trying to reform the Australian economy to create jobs or encouraging Australians into work through programs such as Welfare to Work. The weak Leader of the Opposition opposes everything, because he is totally beholden to his mates in the trade union movement.