Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Siewert for the question. Can I say that my strong belief is that one of the great outcomes of the strong economic growth that the Howard-Costello team has delivered for Australia will in fact be a substantial improvement in the outlook for Australians who struggle to be part of the workforce. Indigenous Australians are particularly at risk there. Many Indigenous Australians are particularly challenged. The Welfare to Work policy of the Australian government will ensure that as many Australians as possible who are challenged by a whole range of circumstances—quite often not of their own making—do get access to employment. The process of putting Australians in those circumstances through job capacity assessments, ensuring that they seek employment and ensuring that—as part of the mutual obligation with the government and society which provide support—they have a serious commitment to seeking work, is a very good policy that is being applied in, I think, a most successful way. In fact, if you look at the number of people who are moving from welfare to work, the statistics speak for themselves. This very morning I visited a Centrelink office and I spoke to some of the social workers at the front line who are—