Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In February, the youth unemployment rate in Australia was more than double the national unemployment average. Nearly 300,000 young people across our nation are unemployed, and people turning to the government for a solution should know that PaTH is a path to nowhere. Young people are some of the most vulnerable in a workplace. Young people experience a greater number of job losses and higher unemployment rates than adults. In the Northern Territory, the unemployment rate is eight per cent. If this legislation passes, PaTH will be the young person's equivalent of CDP. It will leave young people at risk of being exploited without any hope of secure employment.

We have seen the government's record on CDP. CDP is a difficult program across our regions in Australia. It is a program that requires greater scrutiny, which is what the Senate will be doing. One of the incredible flaws of CDP is that it keeps people in poverty and it keeps them disadvantaged. If what is being proposed here in the Senate is equivalent to the CDP, there can be no doubt that this is not good news for young Australians. It does not create jobs; it creates a pool of free labour. For every unemployed youth in the Northern Territory, there are two other people competing for that job. We all know that, because of inexperience and lack of skills, young people are vulnerable in the job market.

This government should be looking for solutions to youth unemployment. Instead, the government have slapped together a scheme that is no solution to the growing problem. This is poorly constructed legislation that the government maintain is designed to give work experience to young jobseekers with the view of leading them to secure employment. That is the idea. However, this is not going to be the reality. In fact, this legislation leaves young people exposed to exploitation from dishonest employers and this legislation will leave young people with no workers' compensation, no superannuation, no award wages and certainly no option of union protection. I ask the Senate: is this where our country is headed? Is this the value that we display to our young Australians, telling them, 'You have no future; however, you can work in the present without any concept of what your future is going to look like'? There will be no support, no compensation, no superannuation and no award wages.

Employers are set to make the money here. The sign-up incentive is $1,000, which is provided to employers, will do nothing more than create a pool of vulnerable, disposable, cheap workers who will not be offered long-term employment. No jobs will be created through this program, not one. There is a very serious risk that PaTH will displace people who would otherwise be employed to fill genuine vacancies. PaTH will take in 30,000 young Australians, classify them as interns and place them in businesses around the country, in an already weakened labour market. Young people trying to get into entry-level employment will be competing with the people in the PaTH program, operating as cut-price labour for government subsidised employers. Young jobseekers who take up these internships will work between 15 and 25 hours a week for between four and 12 weeks. For this they will receive payments of—wait for it—$200 per fortnight; not a week, a fortnight. Who can live on that? On top of their income support payments, even when paid at the maximum rate, the payment is substantially less than the national minimum adult wage of $17.29.

The ACTU made a submission to the Senate inquiry and said, 'The Youth Jobs PaTH program is a poorly considered and ineffective response to the significant issue of youth unemployment in Australia.' Well, it is just another example of an out-of-touch government that has continually failed to engage with young people who are hungry for jobs.