Page 267 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 12 May 1992
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Madam Speaker, I will be continuing that kind of activity, and I will be continuing to push for the air freight distribution centre to be located in Canberra. I have met with a number of organisations on that matter, including the Federal Airports Corporation. That is another area in which the ACT stands to benefit from a new industry, with a large number of jobs that have a future in the ACT. I will also continue to press for projects, such as the Gold Creek project, to be developed and advanced. That is a $200m project that will create an enormous number of jobs in the ACT. Similarly, the Chinatown proposal for Dickson will add to our tourism potential; it will add a number of quality, sustained jobs.
Madam Speaker, in closing, I would like to point out that I continue to believe that it is important that young people have appropriate training for employment. I reject criticisms that I have heard from members opposite about TAFE not being a solution. I reject criticisms that projects like Jobskills are not the solution. It is essential, in my view, that young people have both the skills and the training available to them so that they are competitive in the job market. I think we must continue to focus on those kinds of opportunities for young people; otherwise, as members have pointed out, our young people will be left behind in the competition for jobs. They must maintain their skills. They must remain competitive in the jobs market.
Madam Speaker, I also believe that we must actively pursue job opportunities. I hope that in my comments today I have persuaded members that the Government is actively pursuing real job opportunities in the ACT. I reject calls for the kinds of make-work propositions that I heard being talked about in the media this morning by the Open Family Foundation. I believe that we, as a community, as a society, are capable of providing real jobs and involving young people fully in the employment market. I do not believe that it is appropriate to provide them with some lesser form of activity. I think that is to do them less than justice. To compel them in any way to undertake that activity, I think, is totally unacceptable because young people, whether they are unemployed or employed, have a free will; they must have a choice in the matter; their human rights must be protected. I reject any kind of compulsion, any national service aspect, that I believe was contained in the comments that I heard this morning.
Madam Speaker, in concluding, I thank Ms Szuty for raising this issue. It is the issue to which I give priority, it is an issue which I am sure the Assembly will wish to discuss again and again, and it is an issue which will also be assisted, I believe, by a national recovery from our recession. So, whilst we as a government do everything that we can to address and target the issues, increase jobs and increase industries, we must not forget that this is also a national situation and that action taken nationally will also have an impact in the ACT.
Sitting suspended from 5.26 to 8.00 pm
MR CORNWELL (8.00): Addressing this matter of public importance on youth unemployment: I was interested to hear what the Chief Minister had to say about the various labour market programs. Goodness gracious, the front bench of the Government is empty. I was interested to hear the Chief Minister's statements about labour market programs and the various plans that have been put forward. I reject her statement that people on this side of the house believe that the TAFE is not a solution to youth unemployment. As far as I am aware, nobody among the Liberal members has ever made that statement. We support TAFE very strongly.
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