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

All of a sudden the Deputy Prime Minister has found a voice on youth unemployment. He has found a voice and is saying, 'What about young workers? What about young people looking for jobs?' Let us hope that it is more than just rhetoric coming from the Deputy Prime Minister. Let us hope that he is serious about tackling regional unemployment. Let us hope that he is going to suggest to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and suggest to the Treasurer that we look at some of the things with the backpacker tax that his government is not talking about. Let us hope that he is going to talk about the structure of the visa and about the fact that this government wants to increase the age of eligibility for foreign young workers in this country up to 35, bringing more young backpackers into this country and competing against young Australians for jobs. Let us hope that he is going to talk to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the minister for immigration and the Treasurer about the fact that they want to include tourism as an industry that young backpackers can work in to get the extended visa—the second-year visa. When it comes to standing up and supporting young people in our community, we need to have more than just the rhetoric of the Deputy Prime Minister caught out on a tax measure.

I have some statistics which I hope will enlighten the Deputy Prime Minister about just how challenging it is for our young people in the regions. Rural and regional areas account for 20 of the top unemployment hotspots for 15- to 24-olds. In outback Queensland it is as high as 28 per cent, and in the New South Wales Hunter Valley region it is 22 per cent, yet the national youth unemployment rate is 12.2 per cent.

Let us look at medium-household income. In Greater Melbourne it is about $45,000 a year, and in the rest of Victoria is it about $39,000 a year. Let us look at what is happening to young people when it comes to education and completion rates. Country kids have a lower year 12 completion rate than most other areas. Six out of 10—60 per cent—of adults living in Melbourne have completed year 12, but when it comes to rural and remote Australia the figure is as low as 33 per cent of adults. In 2011, the proportion of year 12 leavers who went to university in major cities was 54 per cent. In rural and remote Australia it was 36.5 per cent.

When it comes to jobs, our young people in the regions are unemployed. When it comes to completing school, there are simply not the resources, the motivation or the structures in place to encourage year 12 completion. Perhaps that is the reason why so many of our schools in regional and remote Australia are crying out for the Gonski funding to be continued—the equity funding.

Let us look at health statistics. There is higher teen pregnancy in our regions compared to our cities. In fact, it is three times higher in the regions than in the cities. The rate of STIs is higher in the regions than in our cities. When it comes to mental health, the most heart-breaking figure of all, rural and remote areas have a youth suicide rate of 66 per cent higher than in our cities.

These statistics paint a very alarming picture for young people in rural and regional Australia when it comes to health, mental health, education and job opportunities. There needs to be a radical plan to help those in our regions. We need to invest in jobs. We need to invest in education. We need to make sure that young people in our regions have the same opportunities as those in the city. Let us hope that the Deputy Prime Minister, at the end of this week, reflects on these statistics. Let us hope that it is not just question time rhetoric when he says that he cares about young workers in our regions.