Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

That's taken hard work, Senator Macdonald, as you know. Our government's 2013 promise to put in place the policies to deliver one million jobs to Australians within five years was actually reached earlier than planned. Our unemployment rate is now at five per cent. It has fallen to five per cent. And, if you look at the percentage of working-age Australians on welfare, it has fallen to 15 per cent. This is the lowest rate of welfare dependency in over nearly a quarter of a century. But, on top of putting in place the right economic conditions to create jobs, what we are also doing—in response to Senator Stoker's question—is ensuring that we have in place programs that will support older Australians in need of a hand to stay in the workforce, or for those who are looking for new opportunities.

We are looking at putting in place a skills checkpoint. We want to make sure that older Australians have access to the skills they need not only for the jobs of today but also for the jobs of tomorrow. And we are increasing support for older Australians to upskill or transition into new careers through our new Skills Checkpoint for Older Workers Program. Senators may be interested to know that the definition of a mature aged person is actually 45, so I think the majority of us in this place would actually be interested occasionally in looking at the Skills Checkpoint for Older Workers Program. We are actually providing eligible Australians— (Time expired)