Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week I had the great pleasure of hosting our employment minister, Senator Michaelia Cash, to launch a key part of the PaTH—Prepare, Trial, Hire—Program to get young people aged 15 to 25 into the workplace. The minister is doing a fantastic job of tackling the issue of youth unemployment, and I commend her on her efforts in listening carefully to how important business, especially small business, are in giving young people a start in the workforce.

During the visit, the minister met with several small businesses in Sutherland and spoke at length with one small business person, Cafe 2232's proprietor George Papadopoulos, about his past difficulties in employing young people. George and his daughter Lizzie, who also helps out in the business, told the minister that, while employers were keen to employ young people, they were often presented with candidates who did not have the required skills to get a start. This is where the PaTH—Prepare, Trial, Hire—Program will offer young people the opportunity to secure an internship with a business so they can learn vital skills to help them get a job. The program will fund financial support to both the young person and the business during the internship, as well as financial support where the business employs a young person.

This is the coalition getting on with the job of increasing employment in this country, giving more and more young people the opportunity to get into the workforce. This is an excellent program, and I commend the minister for her work on this.