Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

The minister is saying this is a disgrace. I agree it is a disgrace, Minister. I think you are a disgrace. You cannot look after apprentices, and you are trying to tell us that you can look after internees being ripped off by people like Subway and 7-Eleven and Caltex, all under your watch. And you come here with your bombastic attitude telling us that we do not look after young people, but we do look after young people. You should just learn the same trait of looking after young people.

If you are in here on an internship, what you get from that internship is actually some recognition of the work that you do for your degree. That is what happens. You get some recognition for the work that you do. But this minister and Senator Xenophon have done a deal. Senator Xenophon will get some other deal down the track for supporting this bill. And we have this two-year review with absolutely no terms of reference, just a hope and a prayer that this minister will do the right thing, a hope and a prayer about the checks and balances—and I will come to the checks and balances down the track a little bit—including data analytics.

This is a government that has been using data analytics in the Department of Human Services, and how well has that gone, Minister? I just think the checks and balances in here are absolute nonsense. You do not have the capacity to look after young people that are operating under legislation in your portfolio. That is clear. This is an $850 million investment, and the people who are getting the benefit will be the people like Caltex, 7-Eleven and Subway. These are big multinationals who should actually be employing young people. They should not have to get funding from the federal government to actually put young people in a job. And there will be displacement. We might get some views on displacement from you down the track and on what the checks and balances on displacement are. But there are no comprehensive safeguards, as the minister has outlined.

I put to Senator Xenophon: if we start seeing, as we fear, widespread exploitation under this program, and if we start to see traits that are happening to young apprentices happening to these young people on so-called internships, will you support a Senate inquiry, independent of the minister, prior to the two years? If we see problems starting to arise, which we fully expect, will you support Labor and get an earlier review through a Senate inquiry process? Or will you argue that there is a process in place and we have to wait for two years and let kids be ripped off and exploited for two years, let kids be injured, let a young kid be killed—as happened in the Work for the Dole—in this program before you do anything about it? What is the Nick Xenophon Team's position on getting a review earlier than the two years if, as we fear, exploitation takes place?