Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Jobs and Industrial Relations and Minister for Women. Will the minister update the House on how the government's plan for a stronger economy is helping older Australians who want to remain part of the workforce? Is the minister aware of any threats to the livelihoods of older Australians posed by different approaches?

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Jobs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson for her question. She is indeed in this place a very powerful advocate for older Australians. She, like the government, recognises the great skills and experiences that mature-age workers bring to the workforce. She knows that their skills and experiences are refined over a period of time over a long career and, of course, are ready to be harnessed by employers who want people with those skills and experiences. The government also understands that, quite aside from the obvious financial benefits that go with getting a job, continuing to have mature-age workers in the workforce getting a job can improve health outcomes, contribute to self-esteem and have social and emotional benefits for those workers. It is for this reason that the government has invested in a range of programs that help older Australians who want to find a job or who want to upskill.

The government is working with industry via a collaborative partnership on mature-age employment to promote the benefits of recruiting and retaining older Australians and to help employers have a more age-diverse workforce. We're also investing $17.7 million to encourage entrepreneurship and self-employment amongst mature-age Australians by expanding entrepreneurship facilitators in a program that extends them out to more than 20 different locations across the country. We are rolling out the Career Transition Assistance program a year earlier so that mature-age workers can seek the benefits sooner from guidance and training so that they can be competitive in their local job market.

More than 360,000 jobs have been created for mature-age workers since this government came to office. Of course, we have a very proud record when it comes to jobs. We have created more than 1.1 million jobs since we came to government. We are actively out there working to make sure that older Australians who want a job have the opportunity to get a job so that they can have money in their pockets, and we're delivering those results. But what about those opposite? They are actively looking to take money out of the pockets of older Australians; not helping them to get into a job to put money into their pockets. The way that they are doing this is through their mega retiree tax, which will hit around 900,000 Australians, picking the pockets and the handbags of grandmothers and grandfathers right across our nation. It is not something that is right, and it is certainly not something on this side of the chamber that we would stand for.