Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I wish to share with the House some of the experiences of young people in my electorate who are unemployed and seeking work. From the beginning I would like to acknowledge Senator Ricky Muir's public comments about his time as a young person who was unemployed. He spoke out about the hopelessness you feel when you cannot find work and the lack of self-worth you feel when you cannot find a job to provide for your family.

It reminded me of the experience of a young man who came into my office late one Friday afternoon, angry and frustrated. This man said it was hopeless. He had just been to a JSA and seen a job advertised in the window. They were looking for someone who could be a storeman. He had just been made redundant from his job a few months earlier and had similar skills and qualifications. He thought, 'I can do that. It might be a little bit less pay, but I'd be keen to do that. I have a young family and a mortgage, and I want to do the right thing by my family.' When he went into the JSA they said, 'Sorry, you don't have a provider number. Get a provider number.' He got the provider number and then they said, 'Sorry, that job's not for you. It's reserved for somebody else. Go see your local MP,' which is how he ended up at my door, frustrated, saying, 'It's hopeless. I could work that job, but I can't apply.'

He is not the only one to bring to me concerns about the JSAs and Centrelink and the entire system in which we try to help young people find work. A mother recently contacted me about her hopelessness in trying to support her son while he tried to find work. She said, 'My son is fast losing enthusiasm, and I don't blame him. These companies, the JSAs, have our young people over a barrel. Their clients, like my son, don't or can't speak up, because they fear losing what small allowances and entitlements they have. They are made to do countless useless courses and are sent out for jobs that they are not qualified for just so companies can look back at them and say, "You don't qualify; you don't have a job." What it does to his confidence to be continually rejected—it just frustrates me. I never thought that my son would be one of the long-term unemployed. I just want him to start working before he gives up completely.' That is a mother's hopelessness and frustration about her son's experience.

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet some young people who are trying to do something about their situation. They are a team of young people in my electorate who are getting together in a new and exciting venture called Wood Gang. They are all under 30 and are working as a team as part of the young manufacturers group. They are designing a product which they hope to take to market. This product is a series of blocks that they have designed and produced and hope to manufacture. When I was out there the pride was visible on their faces, that they had worked collectively to make this product. It is a product that they believe will help young families and young people, particularly our little ones, understand their colours and how shapes fit together but also to have fun. What I learnt from that experience was that these are young people that many of us may have written off, but one person inspired them to get together to form this young manufacturers group. He was their energy and their inspiration. One young person in the group said to me, 'I have gone from potentially using this block of wood to hit somebody, and get myself in trouble and face the law, to turning it into something that I can be proud of and hope that my children one day may use.' These young people now have hope and are keen to get on with working.

Another young person in my electorate, who posted a message on Facebook just this week, said she had found the job that she has been desperately looking for. She said:

For the first time in my life, I woke up this morning happy to go to work.

…   …   …

It's not very often I am truly happy - today was the best day I've had in so many years.

I feel like the luckiest person alive.

These are Kate's reflections on finally getting a job that she can be proud of. We need to do more for these young people as a government and a community to make sure we have more hope and less hopelessness.