Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to quickly talk about the success of the PaTH program for young people and encourage members in this place to embrace it in their electorates. I recently got a letter from Nicola Saad in my electorate. She is a parent of young adults, and she has seen firsthand how difficult it can be to break into the job market as the number of entry-level jobs is drying up. She says, 'We have one child who graduated high school with a diploma in business. Another has done a diploma in floristry at TAFE, applies for hundreds of jobs per week and has got nowhere. It can be incredibly disheartening for young people.' I understand. I remember, years ago when I wanted to be a sales executive, I applied for probably 50 to 80 jobs before I landed a job as a sales executive with Sony Australia. I was terribly disappointed when I went for jobs: I knew I was a great applicant, but I wasn't landing them. With persistence I got there and went on to do great things there.

I want to talk quickly about the PaTH program because I feel it's a really good program for people that are unemployed, young people aged between 18 and 24. Last week I met with participants in the prepare phase from local training organisation Designer Life in Deception Bay. They're doing great things with these young people. Participants were writing cover letters for jobs. They were doing a three-week course where they learned how to write a resume. They learnt about interviewing techniques and other important skills to help them become employable. I had the chance to address them and to chat with them quickly.

The next phase is the trial, where the participants spend some four to 12 weeks in a business. The PaTH program, for the first time, gives young people the opportunity to work in the private sector, mix with other people that are wearing a uniform, have KPIs and turn up to work on time. That rubs off on them. I was at a place last week, PR Cleaning Rags, a Clontarf business run by Mr and Mrs Enfield, and met a young woman there, Gillian Dawes from Margate. She was a lovely young woman. Gillian was in her 20s; she had been unemployed; she now has a full-time job with PR Cleaning Rags. There was another young woman, Emma, who had been with that company for a few years, who was mentoring her as well.

It is a really good program. In Petrie we have had about 285 people placed. Actually only 50 completed the trial, but 164 have been hired. When I dug a bit deeper as to why only 50 had completed the trial, they told me that businesses had put them on for a few weeks and said, 'They're pretty good; let's offer them a job straightaway.' So much for taking advantage of them, as some members have said that this program would encourage. I want to encourage businesses in everyone's electorate to look at the PaTH program and find a young person you can mentor and train. And I want to encourage young people to get into it. There are great opportunities for you, and this is a good way to kick off your career and get some experience.