Page 629 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 1991
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Unemployment concerns the Labor Party also, because it creates significant social hardship. This is particularly true of extended periods of unemployment. It is because of its potentially damaging impact on the perceptions of those just entering the labour market that we must be particularly concerned about youth unemployment. The frustration and alienation associated with unemployment can result in many forms of anti-social behaviour, behaviour such as vandalism, drug abuse and violent crime. Unemployment can result in the tragic waste or blighting of young lives. Brian Burdekin, in his report, Our Homeless Children, recognised the importance of employment in dealing with the cycle of poverty and homelessness faced by many young people. He made a number of recommendations relating to job training and employment programs.
Unlike our Chief Minister, Mr Burdekin realised that a territorial government can act to address the problem of unemployment, particularly in its discriminatory effect. It is not, however, only the social implications of youth unemployment which we must be concerned about. Sustained high levels of youth unemployment also impose economic costs on our community. Youth unemployment is a waste of human capital. Our community invests millions of dollars in educating and training young people. How can we afford not to utilise that resource? It is not only a loss of productive capacity while they are unemployed; it also has lasting and long-term effects on the productivity of unemployed youth as they grow older.
Because we in the Labor Party recognise the special problems of youth unemployment, because we recognise that society has a special responsibility to nurture our youth, and because we oppose the injustice of the discriminatory impact of unemployment on youth, we included a program specifically aimed to deal with youth unemployment in our first budget. We proposed the establishment of the youth outreach worker program. This program was designed to provide personalised information, support and job planning services for long-term unemployed teenagers and youth with disabilities. We also understood the importance of the ACT Government in providing the right climate for overall economic development and job creation. That is why we included approximately $2m in employment-generating new policy proposals, as well as increasing public sector infrastructure expenditure by 10 per cent.
This approach by my Labor Government must be contrasted with the approach of the Kaine Government - an approach based on the continual denial of the existence of a problem in the face of overwhelming evidence; an approach based on passing the buck to others. It is an uncaring and arrogant approach. The Alliance Government did not implement my proposal for a youth outreach worker program, and it instituted a contractionary budget policy.
The entire economic policy of this Government is based on rhetoric, rather than action. We have had Mr Collaery's response to the Burdekin report, where he stated:
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