Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Listening to the contribution from the member for Mitchell shows how out of touch he is. As he stood in this House, he gave a scenario of reasons that people are unemployed. Listening to his contribution you would believe the only reason that a person is unemployed is that they failed to comply with the requirements of Centrelink—or they're lazy or they can't get out of bed or they just forgot about it. I say to the member for Mitchell that I have worked with people who are unemployed for many years and I know how desperate they are to try and find employment. A person does not choose to languish on welfare; a person tries to get a job. In my area there is a very high rate of youth unemployment and there is very little assistance available for them, particularly since this Abbott government cut so many of the programs—like Youth Connection—that helped young people move from school to work. There is a need to have a compliance regime, and we on this side of parliament do not walk away from that in any shape or form. But the reason a person is unemployed is a lot more complicated than not complying by not turning up for appointments.

There needs to be more jobs. This government has absolutely no plan for jobs. A plan for jobs is not cutting wages and working conditions. I have worked in small business, I have owned a small business and I know that there are many challenges for small businesses, but I know that small businesses cannot take all the young people and all the older people who are unemployed. If you look at the difficulties associated with older people wanting to enter the workforce, you would know there are so many barriers to stop people gaining employment. It is not that they do not turn up for jobs and it is not that they will not attend appointments; it is rather the simple fact that the jobs do not exist.

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