Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Youth and Sport, Senator Colbeck. While youth unemployment is at 11.7 per cent—more than double the national average—the government's flagship youth employment program, PaTH, is failing. Having set itself the target of 30,000 internship placements per year, can the minister confirm that only 8,234 young people have commenced internships between April 2017 and January 2019?

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Order! Order, on both sides of the chamber, so that the minister may—all senators, can you show some respect to Senator Smith, who has asked the question, so that she may receive an answer. Senator Colbeck.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. I can confirm that that's the number of placements that have been made under the program. But it's also worth noting that it's better than it would have been under the circumstance that the Labor Party voted for in this chamber, which was not to have the program at all. So over 8,000 people do have the opportunity to start a job, based on this program.

We've also a number of other programs that we've put in place. I know a very popular program, in Tasmania, which is to provide a subsidy for the first and second year of apprentices. There's been a huge uptake—in fact, a very, very fast uptake in Tasmania. So we're continuing to work to grow the number of people in employment. In fact, the number of people in youth employment has increased by 23,200 or 1.2 per cent to a record high of 1.963 million, over the year, to August 2019.

As I said before, we continue to grow youth employment. Full-time youth employment has risen by 17,900, a 2.1 per cent increase, and youth part-time employment has increased by 5,400 or 0.5 per cent. It's worth noting that even though the unemployment rate is at 11.7 per cent right now, it is one per cent lower than it was when Labor left government.

We continue to work to get people into jobs. We continue to work to get all Australians into jobs. That's why we implement programs that support youth into employment, even though the Labor Party might oppose them. They give young people the opportunity to get a start—things that the Labor Party oppose.

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

Senator Smith, a supplementary question?

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Reports have indicated that only 30 per cent of PaTH participants have been offered a job at the end of their internship. Are these figures correct? If not, what percentage of PaTH participants have been offered a job at the end of their internship?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I'm not too sure why the Labor Party are complaining that 30 per cent of 8,000 young people have got a job. I'm not sure why they're complaining about this. A program that the Labor Party didn't support is actually, in their own words, 'getting young people into employment'. I'm not sure why the Labor Party would complain about that. Had the Labor Party had their way, this program wouldn't exist and nobody would have got a job. As I said, the unemployment rate when the Labor Party left office was 12.7 per cent. It's now 11.7 per cent. Is it low enough? No, it's not. We continue to work on that. But when the Labor Party oppose programs that are about practically providing opportunities for young people to get into work, I won't be lectured, we won't be lectured, by the Labor Party when we're actually trying to do things that will provide opportunities for young people to get a job.

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

Senator Smith, a final supplementary question?

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government has overseen the highest level of youth unemployment and underemployment in 40 years, the lowest number of new apprenticeships and traineeships in 20 years, and the failure of its exploitative PaTH program. Isn't it clear that after six years of coalition government young Australians are going to work harder but go backwards?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I have to completely reject the premise of the question. Given that the unemployment rate was 12.7 when they were in government and 11.7 per cent now, the unemployment rate is clearly lower than it was when the Labor Party were in government. So I reject that part of the question. The level of youth employment has increased by 1.2 per cent to a record high of 1.963 million over the year to August 2019. We continue to grow employment at all levels, including youth employment. We continue to grow employment, and we continue to put in place programs to assist young people to get into work. And we won't be lectured by the Labor Party, who have opposed programs to provide opportunities for young people to get into work.