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

Can I say again that there will be bumps on the way in this transition. There is no doubt about that because it is a big, big reform. The old system was not working and it certainly was not working for Indigenous people. There is no doubt about it. Coming back to my point, these young Indigenous men and women are learning trades. For them it is not training for training’s sake. They talked about Work for the Dole and they said, ‘We went to that program but we were just made to pick up trash. That is what they had us doing in Work for the Dole—picking up trash.’ It was not about learning skills and learning trades, but the new system is exactly about that—providing skills to get young people, Indigenous people and long-term unemployed people into real jobs, jobs of the future. That is why we are working with the Indigenous covenant as well. Their target is 50,000 positions and we are working closely with them on their program. (Time expired)