Page 631 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
When we are looking at policies designed to address youth unemployment, it is useful to separate them into two categories: Policies designed to remove the disadvantages faced by all young people, and policies designed to discriminate in favour of particularly disadvantaged groups of young people. In the first case, the fundamental issue must be to establish economic policies designed to increase the overall level of employment. In this regard, the ACT Government could play a pivotal role in creating a climate which would encourage business investment.
In a period of economic downturn, the Government needs to be careful to ensure that its policies do not exacerbate the economic difficulties. Budgetary policies should be aimed at stabilising the economy, not undermining it. What is required is a government willing to make decisions; a government which can at least create the image of stability; a government willing to act in the interests of its people. That is, Mr Speaker, we need a government other than the one we have now. Canberra also needs to be aggressive in its attempts to attract business and to be willing to compete for jobs with the other States and Territories.
The second component of any strategy to increase the job prospects of young people in general must be to increase the marketability of the skills they take to the job market. This means improving their education and training opportunities. Increasing the cost of education and training through the privatisation of schooling, or the rationing of a declining number of TAFE places, as is the policy of the Alliance Government, will only increase the inequity of the current situation. Available education and training resources need to be targeted to where they can best assist the reduction of inequality and the removal of injustice.
There are a number of things that a government committed to social justice can do to positively discriminate in favour of those young unemployed who are particularly disadvantaged. The young people I am referring to, Mr Speaker, are the long-term, alienated unemployed. One of the major disadvantages of this group is that they tend not to belong to any job networks. They do not have the relatives, the friends and the social climate which may introduce other young people into avenues of employment. To overcome this problem requires intensive vocational guidance services of the type I proposed in our youth outreach workers scheme.
I accept, Mr Speaker, that the recently introduced Street Link program, with all of its deficiencies, plays an important role in that area. However, we must remember that both of these schemes, both my own outreach workers scheme and the Street Link scheme, were designed in an environment of only half the level of youth unemployment that we have now. If we had remained in government, we would have been forced to expand our program to ensure that
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .