Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Senator Scullion. Can the minister update the Senate on how the government has supported more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people into work?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Under the coalition government the economy is going gangbusters. Now it is creating record numbers of jobs and opportunities for all Australians. For the benefit of those opposite, the recent ABS figures unquestionably indicated that the economy we've created has translated to well over 400,000 jobs this year. That's very positive news.

We know that many Indigenous jobseekers face some unique barriers to employment. We are ensuring we have programs in place to get more First Australians off the misery of passive welfare and into work. Over the last 12 months my programs—Indigenous-specific programs—have resulted in 7,000 jobs for Indigenous jobseekers. Mainstream employment has a result of 35,564 jobs. That means that of the 400,000 jobs being created across the economy some 10 per cent have gone to Indigenous people despite them only making up three per cent of the population and 0.7 per cent of the labour force. That is a fantastic result and unsurprising out of the 1,100 jobs created every day.

The reason we have been successful is we actually understand an economy. We understand how that works. We put the VTEC into place—an initiative that for the first time broke the back of training for training's sake. A jobseeker is only trained up if they are guaranteed a specific job at the end. All of that nonsense and gammon about training for training's sake has now ended. That is because we only pay on results. This includes some 1,452 jobs in Senator Smith's home state of Western Australia. That trajectory is going to grow in the years to come thanks to the policies of this government.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Smith, a supplementary question?

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question to the minister is: how are regional and remote communities benefitting from the government's successful Indigenous employment policies and programs?

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That'll be short; they're not!

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks very much for the question, Senator. In remote Australia the Community Development Program has been a spectacular success. We have been getting jobseekers re-engaged with their communities, becoming job ready and finding work. Since we introduced this in 2015—

Senator Siewert interjecting—

For the benefit of the screeching Green who is screeching out rather than listening, the fact is that 21,600 people have actually moved off these jobs and into real work. So we've actually turned the tide on the failed remote jobs and community programs. I will tell you how many. Can you remember that, Senator Siewert? Seven per cent of people were engaged—a shocking and shameful seven per cent. I didn't hear you standing in this place criticising that. We've now improved that by 60 per cent to 67 per cent. We are actually making sure. We've got 21,600. I'm looking forward to working in partnerships with remote communities to continue this very important work.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind people speaking that comments should be made to and through the Chair to comply with standing orders. Senator Smith, a final supplementary question?

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My final supplementary question to the minister is: why is the government's focus on supporting jobs and local economic development so important to delivering better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Senator for the question. As the senator would be aware, we know that economic development is the key to improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and their communities. The choice facing Indigenous Australians is: who do you select? What government would you select to support the right balances and economic development? Through our procurement policy we have 956 Indigenous businesses winning Commonwealth contracts today. In 2012-13, under the policies of those opposite, we had 30. Under our policies, we had 594 million in contracts in the first two years. Your figure was 6.2 million. In the senator's home state of Western Australia, we see the number of contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses has absolutely exploded, including a $4 million defence contract awarded to CareyMC. They are doing an absolutely wonderful job. Is it any wonder that Indigenous leaders, from Marshall Langton to Warren Mundine have described our IPP policies—the policies of this side—as the greatest policies in Indigenous affairs since Federation. (Time expired)