Page 638 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 1991
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but it is not correct to say those things. When we are dealing with unemployment, and especially the unemployment of young people, we need to be sure that the facts that we raise are correct, because if we deal in half-truths and untruths we are not going to be able to deal effectively with the problem. The statistics are well known, and they need to be understood. Indeed, I do not believe that the statistics that we have are comprehensive enough; but that is another matter. We know the short-term problems of youth unemployment; we know the long-term problems; we know the role that part-time employees have in this; we know how variable the statistics can be. Mr Kaine does not seem to know that.
There is a clear underlying, basic problem. There is a significant number of young people in Canberra who want work and cannot get it. Two matters also arise that are fairly new at this stage. One of those is the fact that in our secondary colleges this year there is a very much larger number of students repeating year 12. The number probably averages out at about 30 or 40 in each of the colleges. That is a very large number of students and that tends, obviously, to take away from the real impact of youth unemployment.
Mr Jensen: How does it compare to last year?
MR WOOD: It is very much more. It has grown over the last two or three years, and it is significantly more this year. That is raised in conversations that I have had with people who ought to know. Of course, we all know, or we should know, that there is quite a youth bubble passing through the school sector at this stage, and that certainly exacerbates the problem. It means that at crucial times for young people, when their enthusiasm is high, their hopes are high and they are excited about the prospect of getting out and working and being self-supporting and contributing to society, they are actually discouraged and their hopes are dampened because of the situation.
I am sorry that the Chief Minister has gone, because I wanted to quote some of his words back to him. Maybe someone will tell him upstairs what I have said, because he is given to a lot of rhetoric; we have seen that today.
Mr Speaker, debate on unemployment and youth unemployment is very much a debate in Canberra on promoting private sector growth. We all realise that. That is where the great thrust for employment must come from. Along with that, we need to debate policies about employment, education and training that will support that private sector growth. As well as that, there is a need for specific policies relating to young people. Labor recognised this and acted upon it; the Follett budget took full account of it with very substantial programs. But the Liberal Party has not followed it through.
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