Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since the 2013 election, there has been a significant increase in the number of Australians experiencing long-term unemployment, and it reached a 16-year high this year. The number of people out of work for a year or more has risen rapidly, by 18 per cent, to 188,000, which is the highest number since the late 1990s and almost three times more than during the mid-2008 GFC. Long-term unemployment has a major effect on people's wellbeing and dignity. Those out of work for a long period are more likely to become socially isolated and suffer mental and physical illnesses.

My electorate is now markedly above the national average unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent. Both Burwood and Box Hill are now at 10.2 per cent, an anomaly that I have never experienced before in my time in parliament. The Abbott government has no plan to get people off welfare payments and into work. The only solution the Abbott government has come up with is to cut the amount of support to programs, with $1 billion cut from apprenticeships; $1 billion cut from trade training centres; $128 million cut from Youth Connections, Partnership Brokers and National Career Development; Job Services Australia restricting participation for volunteer job seekers; and funding for local employment coordinators reduced by $800,000.

The Abbott government needs to invest in better quality training courses that match the jobs our economy needs now and in the future. Not all jobs are the same as they were a decade ago, and new skills need to be taught. These people need access to the training they deserve. Without the skills, these vulnerable people will never have the confidence to re-enter the workforce, and the sad cycle of long-term unemployment will continue. So wrote Sarah Hearn, a year 10 student from Korowa doing work experience in my office last week.