Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This bill, in substantive form, is being reintroduced into this House today after it was rejected in the Senate by the opposition and the Greens.

This is an important bill, an important measure, which is titled the youth employment bill because it is designed, together with the other measures in the budget—the more than $330 million we have put into the budget—to support young people in getting into employment. They are important measures, addressing those who suffer disadvantage and other impediments, for them to be enabled and empowered and made capable of being able to enter the workforce.

That is what this bill was about the first time we introduced it, in the 2014-15 budget, that is what this bill was about when we re-engineered it, for the last budget, and it remains about that purpose today. This is about sending the right message to young people, about encouraging them and incentivising them into work together with a package of measures that is all about removing disadvantage so that young people can get into work and choose work not welfare.

This bill reintroduces, with minor modifications, some of the measures previously introduced in the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment and Other Measures) Bill 2015, which was negatived at second reading in the Senate on 9 September 2015. The bill also introduces several additional amendments relating to young job seekers.

The one-week ordinary waiting period currently applying to Newstart allowance and sickness allowance will be extended to youth allowance (other) and parenting payment. The measure will also tighten the existing severe financial hardship waiver, and change the current rules so the ordinary waiting period is served after any other waiting periods. However, the bill makes sure Widow allowance claimants will not be subject to this waiting period.

From an intended delayed start date of 1 July 2016, the age of eligibility for Newstart allowance and sickness allowance will be increased from 22 to 25. Young people between the ages of 22 and 25 may apply for youth allowance (other) instead. Young people aged 22 to 24 in receipt of income support before or on 30 June 2016 will not be affected, and will remain on the higher Newstart rate.

The maximum age of eligibility for the youth disability supplement will also be increased to 24 for recipients of youth allowance (other). This change in age requirements will align payments for young unemployed people with those for students, reducing the disincentive to continue study. There is greater flexibility to earn while on youth allowance, so this change will strengthen the incentive for unemployed 22 to 24 year-olds to seek part-time work.

The 2014 budget measure, Stronger Participation Incentives for Job Seekers under30, which sought to introduce a six-month waiting period for under-30s applying for Newstart allowance, youth allowance or special benefit, will no longer be implemented. These measures contained in this bill will be replacing those, as its predecessor did also.

Instead, this bill reintroduces a four-week waiting period for under-25s applying for youth allowance or special benefit. This measure is intended to start from 1 July 2016, and will only apply to job seekers assessed as job ready. Job seekers affected by this measure will also participate in rapid activation pre-benefit activities to ensure they are looking for work.

Emergency relief funding will be made available to provide assistance to job seekers, affected by the measure, who are experiencing hardship. This measure encourages young people to make every effort to look for work and maximise their chances of finding a job. The exemptions contained in this bill are there to protect the vulnerable, the disadvantaged, for those who are not job-ready, for those who, in the most difficult of circumstances, are unable to go back to their own home. That is the government's policy, because of things such as family violence or things of that nature. There are strong exemption measures contained in this bill to protect the vulnerable but to encourage the able to go—and not go from the school gate to the Centrelink front door, to not choose that path—and choose the path of work.

If you do not have a job, income-support payments may be able to replace some of the income you will no longer have or you are not earning but it cannot replace a job in the life of an individual or of a family that may be dependent upon that job. It does not replace the sense of purpose. It does not replace the incentive and ability to fuel the aspiration of individual Australian citizens. Income support, Newstart, youth allowance, cannot replace a job; it only can replace part of the income you may have received from that job. It is this government's policy to focus on getting young people on a pathway to work not on a pathway to welfare. That is what this bill is designed to do in coordination with the other measures, those measures of more than $330 million supporting youth employment measures to do that.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question comes: 'Where are these jobs?' Well, following the presentation of this bill, the Minister for Trade and Investment will be presenting a bill on the China free trade agreement. That is where the jobs are coming from. This government has a plan to create jobs. And we are not just having that plan, we are implementing that plan.

Lastly, the bill includes amendments to implement the rapid activation of the young job seekers 2015 budget measure.

This measure ensures that job seekers under the age of 25 will be part of a new program, RapidConnect Plus. RapidConnect Plus will require job seekers who do not have significant barriers to obtaining employment to complete pre-benefit activities during their four-week income support waiting period in order to receive income support payments.

These are all important measures to support the sustainability of the social security system and the nation's budget.

In conclusion, I note that this bill is in the most part the same bill that was rejected by the Senate. The measures that are contained in this bill have a strong similarity to measures that have been introduced in New Zealand with great success. We are seeking here a four-week waiting period only for job-ready people under 25. The exemptions are long. The supports are many, including $330 million of investment that has already occurred in the budget and is being rolled out and will be invested continually from next year. In New Zealand, they found that around 40 per cent of people who registered for pre-benefit activities did not go onto payments at the end of those four weeks. That is 40 per cent who as a result of those measures went onto a pathway of work rather than ono a pathway of welfare. That is the sort of measure that we need in this country. These are the sorts of measures which help people choose work and get into work rather than staying on welfare.

Particularly from a young age, the New Zealand experience also extends to the high proportion of those who are on a lifetime of welfare. Their investment approach analysis showed that these people entered the welfare system at a young age. That is the point at which we can have an intervention. That is the point where we can change the course of a life—onto work and not onto welfare. And that is the course that is supported by the Minister for Trade and Investment to ensure that there will be jobs for the future together with the many other economic programs of this government.

All members of this House should commend the Minister for Trade and Investment—and those on this side of the House certainly do—on the outstanding work he has done on the free trade agreements, which are growing exports and jobs for this country. In Australia, 28 per cent of low skilled jobs are very hard to fill. We are talking about retail and hospitality jobs, the sorts of jobs that the Minister for Small Business knows all about. He is trying to create and support these jobs and he knows that small businesses are trying to fill these jobs. This measure supports those small businesses to be able to compete with income support. Small business in this country should not have to be competing with the Newstart allowance to get people to fill the jobs in that sector, and this bill addresses that need. We know that this measure will support young people in their transition to work and put a stop to the welfare shuttle that goes from the school gate to the Centrelink door, which those opposite want to see continue.

Debate adjourned.