Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is wonderful to stand here today and take this opportunity to speak about the official launch of jobactive in the electorate of Forde. Last Tuesday was the official launch of jobactive at MAX Employment at Beenleigh, and I would like to thank Minister Luke Hartsuyker for coming to our region for the event. It was a great opportunity to show off the hard-working people and community organisations in Forde who are achieving tremendous things when it comes to assisting our most vulnerable.

The Forde electorate is a unique part of South-East Queensland. Our region has some of the most passionate people I have met—people who are volunteers, people who are part of hard-working community organisations and people who are savvy and innovative business leaders. We live in a community where people are proud to put up their hands and offer help to those who need it most. Like many parts of Australia, Forde has its challenges when it comes to creating opportunities and reducing the number of people relying on government assistance. Each and every day we are kicking goals when it comes to improving services and creating opportunities for businesses to thrive, grow and prosper and, through that, add new staff.

Last week, welcoming the jobactive service to help more of our job seekers find and keep jobs was another goal in helping to improve the opportunities for job seekers and break that cycle of long-term unemployment. One of the ways this is being achieved is through our government's $1.2 billion wage subsidy pool, offering employers incentives to hire and train new staff. The rollout for Work for the Dole in Forde has also been a great achievement for our region. Forde was one of the national trial sites for Work for the Dole, and it was incredibly effective courtesy of the support of the many community organisations in our area.

This program will not only see job seekers gain new skills while looking for work but community organisations will also benefit from the help provided, with participants working on projects that will benefit the broader community. It was great to meet with the hardworking team at MAX Employment, which is one of several organisations in Forde rolling out the new jobactive system. While providing a quality service that will improve the employment prospects of our residents is a big part of jobactive, it is also important that we encourage our residents to seek out and utilise those services to the best of their abilities. We need to be actively engaging with these people to provide them with the confidence they need not only to ask for help but to know they will receive the help they need. I look forward to working with the new jobactive providers in our region to help connect job seekers and employers. Our government is 100 per cent committed to helping job seekers find employment, and I would like to thank everyone involved for making jobactive a reality.

Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 193 the time for constituency statements has concluded.