Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the amendments be agreed to.

I acknowledge the support that this bill received last night in the other place. The government introduced this bill as we are greatly concerned about the number of appointments that are being missed by job seekers. In 2013-14, job seekers missed 35 per cent of appointments with their employment service providers. That is almost 4½ million appointments that were missed. The measures in this bill are designed to ensure that more job seekers do the right thing the first time and attend their scheduled appointments or pick up the phone ahead of time and reschedule. In addition to ensuring that job seekers remain active and engaged, this bill will see a reduction in costs and red tape for employment services providers.

I note the amendments proposed. The government indicated last night that it would not oppose these amendments. The amendments preserve the substance of the bill by introducing new arrangement and penalties. They will strengthen the job seeker compliance framework and ensure the integrity of the social security system. I thank those who have contributed to the debate on this bill.

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased that the government has accepted the amendments that we moved in the Senate. They are 10 amendments to strengthen this legislation and to actually protect vulnerable job seekers. We were very concerned that vulnerable job seekers were again going to be penalised by the government, as we have seen in other pieces of legislation from the government. We are very pleased to see that the government has seen sense and agreed to our amendments, particularly those amendments that allow job seekers to maintain their right of appeal if they are suspended due to missing their appointments.

We also are particularly pleased that our amendment to exclude job seekers over the age of 55 from job search activities has been agreed to. We do think that the discrimination in the job services market for those people who are over 55 is real and we think the government has got a lot more work to do before we could agree to such a proposal. I thank the government for actually considering the amendments and for taking them in the manner in which they were put into the other place. I am pleased to see that this bill be passing.

Question agreed to.