Harry Quick (Franklin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise in this place to highlight something that I am sure is an issue in each and every one of the 149 seats in the Australian federal parliament. Today, during question time, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations waxed lyrical about the fact that the number of long-term unemployed is falling. I agree that it is great news: getting more and more people into the workforce is a great news story. The unemployment rate is now below five per cent, and it has been at that level for the last several months.

It is a great news story, and I congratulate the government. But people should realise—and I know that everyone in this place realises it—that this does not give the full picture. I represent a seat in Tasmania that covers rural and regional areas, and the options for people who live in these small country towns are severely curtailed when it comes to seeking work. Transport is very poor and job opportunities are scarcer in these areas than they are in the major population centres. In Tasmania, where we probably have one of the highest unemployment rates in all of Australia, the rate is a heck of a lot lower than it was when I first came to this parliament in 1993.

But the fact is that there are stacks and stacks of people of working age who are not participating in the labour market. These people want to work. According to the ABS figures, there are over one million of these people—one million people of working age who are not participating in the labour market, and they want to work. These people, unfortunately, are not eligible for job seeker allowance and not eligible for any sort of training or placement assistance, and I find that an absolute shame. Employers also are not able to take these people on under employment subsidy as, once again, they do not qualify for the retraining assistance.

So here we have a million people in Australia who want to work and who are of working age, and, because they do not meet the criteria, the Job Network are not interested because they cannot make a buck out of them. The employer would love to take them on, but he or she is not going to get that financial assistance from the government. It is sad to say that there are some employers whose hearts are not in the right place and who want to make a quick quid out of the fact that people are there, available, and want to work. So, effectively, these people are marginalised from participating, from actively looking for work.

I know quite a few of these people. Sadly, in my electorate I have large swathes of public housing where there are no jobs, where people are marginalised—so much so that they have to put in their CV from a letterbox in another suburb because, if they put a certain postcode on their application, on their resume, people will not give them a second chance. That is absolutely appalling—having to hire a private postbox across the river in another suburb, basically telling a lie that they are living in another suburb, just so that their resume gets past first base.

As I said, these one million people come from all age groups, not necessarily from broadacre public housing. They come from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. The sad fact is that many of these people are aged between 40 and 65. I had my 65th birthday in June this year, and next year I will be unemployed. I am taking the option to retire and do something else with my life.

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

We’ll miss you, Harry.

Harry Quick (Franklin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister. I would like to think that I have something to contribute in my next life, but I am going to have to go out and sell myself. If I go to the Job Network, they are not going to be interested. They are not going to help with my resume, because they are not going to make a buck out of it. That is sad. I am one individual, but there are one million of these people.

I know for a fact that this is placing enormous strain not only on the people themselves but on their families. We have numerous instances of people coming into my office where the wife is working and not earning a great deal of money, and the husband has been retrenched, for a variety of reasons, and would like to get back into the workforce. The combined income is $38,000, which in this day and age is not a heck of a lot. If these people have young children or teenage children who want to get the best educational opportunities—and, let’s face it, as an ex-teacher I know just how costly it is to educate your children in this day and age—and the husband wants to work, the Job Network is not really interested, because it is easier to place other, younger people because there are not only financial rewards but retraining opportunities. As for the employer, let’s face it: who would you rather have? A young person in their 20s or someone in their 40s? Employers do make ageist decisions. So this man, perhaps 45, is at home; Centrelink are not really interested in him; the Job Network are not interested. After a while, the frustration sets in. When you hawk your resume around they do not tell you that you are too old, but you just do not get enough of the interviews and opportunities. This frustration eats into you. It affects your family life. The pressure is not only on your spouse but also on your kids.

With one million of these people, I think it is incumbent upon the 150 of us here and the 76 senators to realistically look at these people. As I said at the outset, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations today during question time said that the number of long-term unemployed is falling, and I said, ‘That’s great news.’ The unemployment rate is about 4.8 per cent; that is great news. But we have a whole host of people who want to work, and they do not get any support. I have nothing but admiration for my Job Network providers. They do a fantastic job in placing people into work. But they place the easier ones first, and the harder ones are getting further and further marginalised.

And then we have a whole bunch of people who are in the workforce and out of the workforce. Depending on whether Centrelink has a crackdown or not, these people are ripping off the system. The Treasurer said when he introduced the GST that the black market economy was going to disappear. I can tell you for a fact that that is a load of rubbish—an absolute load of rubbish. I suggest today that the government seriously considers an amnesty for a whole bunch of people who are playing the system, principally to get a healthcare card. There is an unrealistic belief that, if you have a healthcare card, it opens a whole lot of doors: you get cheap this and cheap that, cheap medicines; you go to the local school and they give you a discount on your school fees; and there are a whole lot of benefits. So why should you put all of your eggs into one basket, into trying to get a job, when the Job Network and Centrelink are not interested and it is all too hard? People think: ‘Let’s play the system. Let’s go out into the bush with a chainsaw, get eight tonnes of wood, stick it on the Brooker Highway and sell it. And let’s hope Centrelink doesn’t have a crackdown like they did a couple of months ago when they caught 20 people.’ The tax office was also there at the time. You can catch 20 people, but I can tell you that there are another 300 or 400 that they never catch. (Time expired)