Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition is proud to support policies that encourage job seekers into jobs and encourage job seekers to stay in those jobs. This bill enables two such policies: the Job Commitment Bonus and the relocation assistance to take up a job program. These policies are major initiatives of the government's broader policy commitment to encourage an increased workforce participation. We took these policies to the election and this bill will deliver on these election commitments.

I will briefly outline the Job Commitment Bonus. It is a new incentive specifically targeted to young Australians. The coalition understands the importance of getting young people into work. Getting young people into work and keeping them in work is crucial to avoiding the damage long-term unemployment can do. All the evidence shows that having a job improves not only your financial health but your emotional, physical and mental health. The Job Commitment Bonus is an incentive that encourages young people to stay in a job and keeps them away from the tragic cycle of long-term unemployment.

The Job Commitment Bonus is a new payment. There was no equivalent payment under the former Labor government. This is an innovative policy to address a very serious problem of youth unemployment. I know that in the regional electorate of Indi youth unemployment at the moment is at 17.5 per cent, so it is indeed a concern for all of us, regional and urban Australians like. This bonus rewards young Australians aged from 18 to 30 who get and keep a job and remain off welfare. Eligible young job seekers will receive $2,500 after 12 months in continuous employment and off welfare and a further $4,000 if they remain in continuous employment and off welfare for another 12 months. That is 24 months in total with a total bonus of $6,500. This is a significant investment by government to help young long-term unemployed Australians to make a positive change in their life, specifically moving away from welfare dependency to finding and keeping a job. To qualify for the bonus payment job seekers will have to meet the following criteria. Firstly, they will have to be aged 18 to 30 and have been on income support, Newstart allowance or Youth Allowance for at least the preceding 12 months. Secondly, they need to get a job and remain continuously employed for 12 months and off welfare to attract the first bonus payment of $2½ thousand and then remain continuously employed for a further 12 months whilst remaining off welfare to attract the second bonus payment of $4,000. This will be a significant incentive for young people to get off welfare and keep a job.

The relocation assistance to take up a job program is a targeted measure designed to promote workforce participation by encouraging jobseekers to move to areas where jobs are available. Many jobseekers find themselves living in areas with high levels of unemployment and far away from job opportunities. This, combined with high moving costs, causes many jobseekers to give up on taking up a job that they could ordinarily take because they are simply too far away. This program will help long-term unemployed people and assist with the costs of relocation, so that they can actually move to where the jobs are. The program will provide significant financial assistance of up to $3,000 for jobseekers to move to a metropolitan area, up to $6,000 to move to a regional area and up to an additional $3,000 for jobseekers with dependent children. It is important to note that this program will reimburse actual moving costs up to the applicable maximum amount, including some rent in advance if necessary.

Both measures contained in this bill will address long-term unemployment and demonstrate the coalition's broader agenda of increasing employment participation across the economy. The coalition firmly believes that all Australians capable of work should be working. The Job Commitment Bonus and the relocation assistance program will both encourage and reward long-term unemployed to find and keep a job. These measures form part of the coalition's plan to create a stronger economy and create two million jobs over the next decade and will particularly help young Australians and the long-term unemployed move from welfare to work.

Why are we choosing to introduce these measures? The Job Commitment Bonus addresses the problem of youth unemployment. We understand, as I said earlier, the importance of getting young people into work. It is a targeted measure designed to promote workforce participation. As we have seen in the economy in recent years, particularly when we look at regional areas, there have been significant job opportunities created, particularly in Western Australia and areas of western New South Wales and Queensland, particularly in the mining industry. Many young people have taken advantage of those opportunities and have taken the skills that they have learnt at TAFE or, indeed, on the farm—particularly around mechanical skills—to these regional areas and participated in very lucrative job opportunities in working within the mining and construction industry. So it is possible to move from family and friends. Whilst it is heart wrenching and hard to move away from your community, to ensure your own financial stability and future and the economic sustainability of family if you have dependants these are the decisions that you may have to make.

When we look at high-income earners, we see that they tend to be a lot more mobile as a workforce and are quite willing, able and ready to move to where the next best job opportunity is for them in their particular career area. This is not the case for those who have been on welfare or are from low-income families. This type of targeted measure is one way the coalition government is seeking to provide additional assistance to those most vulnerable in our communities to ensure that they can have additional assistance to make those difficult decisions to move from friends and family and from their communities to where potential job opportunities may be available elsewhere in our national economy and, by doing so, provide financial stability for themselves going forward. I know that those opposite may struggle to accept that it is an acceptable measure for young people to actually incentivise them moving away from home.

Debate interrupted.