Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery and Minister for Employment Participation, Senator Arbib. How many workers displaced by the cancellation of the Home Insulation Program have been provided support by the Rudd government to retain their current jobs?

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

Thank you to the good senator for that question. The guidelines for the government’s worker assistance package were placed on the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations website this week. The government has put in place 25 insulation project coordinators to work with insulation companies to assist them to transition workers through to the new system. I can also confirm that 1,797 workers have commenced in the government’s employment services programs and are being assisted by Job Services Australia providers to find new jobs.

On Friday of last week I visited the Mark Group, which is an insulation company in West Ryde. I spoke to the workers on the site about what they were doing—

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Cormann, resume your seat. When there is silence I will call you. Senator Cormann.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order on relevance. I asked the minister a very specific question on what support had been provided to retain workers in their current jobs. I did not ask him about how many people had gone through the employment services assistance program.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot tell the minister how to answer the question. The minister has 28 seconds remaining. I draw the minister’s attention to the question.

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

Thank you, Mr President. I have answered that part of the question. The project coordinators are talking, day in, day out, to insulation companies. My understanding is my department has spoken to over 700 companies, insulation firms, about accessing the funding pool. But just coming back to it, can I say that at the Mark Group, talking to the workers, the first thing they asked me was: ‘When will the new system come into play?’ That is a pretty important question, Senator. Will the coalition support— (Time expired)

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, my supplementary question is: what, if any, special assistance—that is, assistance which is not available to any other job seeker—is available to workers who lost their jobs as a result of the cancellation of the Home Insulation Program?

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

In terms of the insulation package, as was announced, the government is providing 7,000 training places and 3,000 of those are structural adjustment places which will be provided through Job Services providers to these workers. But if Senator Cormann is so concerned about the workers then, as I have said before, go down the hall, talk to Mr Abbott and get him to support the new program. If you went out, Senator, and actually spoke to some of the workers, you would know what they are after is certainty—certainty that there is going to be an industry from 1 June. This is something that the Liberal Party and Liberal senators refuse to deal with. They will not commit to the new program, which will provide a lifeline and jobs— (Time expired)

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I am waiting to call Senator Cormann.

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Fifield interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Fifield, I am waiting to call Senator Cormann.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Clearly the government has only reshuffled existing money, so I do not know what the minister is going on about, but the question is: how much money to date has been paid and to how many employers to help them retain their current workforce?

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

As I have said, the guidelines for the insulation package were released only this week and we have insulation project coordinators in the field talking to these companies as we speak. If Senator Cormann were fair dinkum, if he actually cared about the workers, rather than coming in here and trying to make a political point he would be talking to Mr Hunt and Mr Abbott and asking them to support the new program. That is the first point that the workers in the industry want to know: when will the new system start?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I raise a point of order. The minister is misleading the Senate. He keeps talking about a new program. There is no new program.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order on that. I draw the minister’s attention to the question, and to the fact that you have 27 seconds remaining to answer the question, Minister.

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

Thank you, Mr President. Again, the government has provided 7,000 training places.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Out of your existing program.

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

Three thousand of those are from the structural adjustment places, Senator. On top of that, $11.5 million is coming out of the Jobs Fund, a flexible pool to assist firms, but at the same time as that project coordinators.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

I say to those Liberal senators and I say to those National Party senators: the test will come in here when the new program comes in. If you vote for it, you are supporting the workers. If you do not— (Time expired)

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Time for debating the issue is at the end of question time.