Page 3356 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 17 September 1991
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These measures will encourage young people, and the community itself, to play a key role in deciding how to redress some of the difficulties faced by young people in getting a job. My Government will also provide $215,000 in a full year to boost funding for a number of existing programs which target the needs of young people. Funding to Involve and Jobline will increase the opportunities available in those non-government organisations for work experience through voluntary and casual employment. An expansion of the Streetlink program will add an employment focus to the existing program.
Negotiations are under way with the Commonwealth regarding the possible collocation of some of the Streetlink staff with a youth access centre. This is a major step in improving coordination and cooperation between the two governments.
Additional funding of $127,000 in a full year will also be provided for programs designed to assist women entering the work force. This will expand employment options for women, especially in non-traditional areas and in small business, and improve women's access to training. One initiative of which I am particularly proud is the decision to pilot traineeships for mature-aged women entering the work force.
Finally, funding of $70,000 will be provided to enhance the advisory and research capacities of tripartite consultative labour relations forums and the further implementation, by the Trades and Labour Council, of training under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Industry
My Government is particularly concerned to foster local industry. The ACT Tourism Commission is restructuring its activities to focus more on marketing the ACT as a tourist destination. The key objective is to streamline operations so that more resources can be directed into mainstream marketing activities.
As part of our emphasis on local business, my Government is able, in this budget, to offer two particular concessions to sectors of the business community. The first of these follows acceptance of a Treasury report on the impact of payroll tax on the computer industry. While employment agents in the computer industry will remain liable for payroll tax, they will now benefit from exemptions currently provided to other employers under the service contract provisions of the Payroll Tax Act.
Employment agents will be exempt from payroll tax where a contractor is engaged for less than 90 days in any financial year, or where the contractor is an employer in his or her own right. Second, my Government has re-examined the previous Government's hard line attitude towards liquor licensees caught by the transition to the quarterly payment of liquor licences. We have decided that
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