Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 2013 I raised on a number of occasions, and shared with the House, the outstanding success of the Better Futures, Local Solutions program in the Wyong local government area of my electorate. It was a program that was rolled out across 10 regions in Australia that targeted acutely disadvantaged families. We had, and we still do have, a fantastic local advisory committee working in that area, and the program enjoyed outstanding successes. It is one of the most outstanding programs that I have been associated with in all the time I have been in parliament. The successes that were achieved were above and beyond expectation; there were a number of programs working under this umbrella that really brought in the bickies.

One of the programs was designed to help young mums with babies to re-engage and develop skills to find employment. Another program was a local employment access program that operated out of Blue Haven. Blue Haven is within the electorate of Dobell, but this program was administered from San Remo, which is in the Shortland electorate. I was devastated to learn that the program had been axed in the budget. It is a program that really delivered to the poorest, the most silent and the most vulnerable members of our communities. The program really goes to the core of what government should be doing—that is, developing and helping change people's lives.

I would like to share with the House some of the figures, and these are raw figures, about the achievements of the LEAP program. The figures are: 40 people gained employment, and these are people where there has been intergenerational unemployment; 41 people completed short-training courses and remained engaged; 83 people are still engaged in long-term training; six young parents completed certificate II in childcare services, health services or hospitality based places; 14 are currently training in cert III aged care and disability based places; 13 participated in Dress for Success; nine completed courses through Staying Home Leaving Violence, and that is a very important program when you are looking at the high levels of domestic violence that exist in this area. Seventy-two people have been referred into the LEAP program since February this year and 32 people are participating in the LEAP activities each and every week. Nine are volunteering for Centrelink's jobless families workshops held fortnightly. My office was involved in those jobless workshops: we went along and we engaged with some of those young jobless families and helped to link them into services.

As well as that, the social return on the investment that has been made in this program is immeasurable. As I was saying, it has really turned people's lives around. There is no program that I have seen that has taken a person from being long-term unemployed—from being part of a family that has experienced intergenerational unemployment—to being engaged, to being employed and to having a future the way this program has. The other thing that is really interesting is that malicious damage in the area is down 100 per cent. It is down to zero. There is no graffiti; there is no damage to buildings taking place. This program is going to be removed, and what is it going to be replaced with? CCTV cameras. That is going to do nothing to change the lives of people. That is going to do nothing to encourage families that have been long-term unemployed to engage. I condemn the government for walking away from this program that has made such a difference in the lives of people I represent.