Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

If you ever wanted to know the difference between this side of the chamber and the other side of the chamber, you have just heard it. There is $3.5 million going out to community organisations, and you call it a bandaid. You have got to be kidding me! This is about supporting those organisations through a difficult period—local community organisations, many of whom have missed out on contracts under the new system. We are trying to assist them. And it is not just that; many of these organisations have applied for funding from the Jobs Fund. The opposition opposes the Jobs Fund. For them, there was no need for a Jobs Fund. It was left to Labor and the crossbench to get that fund up. What this is going to mean is real jobs on the ground. On top of that, Senator Ferguson, I refer you to the Innovation Fund. This will provide new ways of finding a pathway to employment—not training for training’s sake, not work for the dole, but real training and real jobs. (Time expired)