Page 2615 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 October 1992
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EPACT is of the view that moves toward a deregulation of retail trading hours, at least in line with those of New South Wales (and Queanbeyan in particular) would be a significant stimulus to the generation of further part-time job opportunities.
We all know, Madam Speaker, that the two industries that employ the most youth in our community are the retail industry and the tourism industry. Madam Speaker, the Government has done nothing six months down the line. It has its just desserts. Youth unemployment, Madam Speaker, as I have said, is 56 per cent. Why bother commissioning reports if you have not the guts to take the medicine and implement the recommendations? What a waste of money and what a tragedy for all those young people out there on the dole queue! That committee, by the way, estimated youth unemployment at 3,000. It is not as if last Thursday's figures should have come as a surprise to the Government. Everybody has been saying, "Listen, let us have a look at youth employment; it is going to blow right out of proportions".
In presenting the report the Chief Minister said:
Our young people are amongst the Territory's most valuable assets and my Government wishes to ensure that they are given every opportunity both for their own personal development and to maximise their contribution to the community over the coming years.
That was from page 1 of the Chief Minister's statement on youth unemployment. Madam Speaker, I suggest respectfully that the Chief Minister has to do more than just wish. The Chief Minister went on to say that one of the ways the Government was going to increase youth employment was by "immediately" pursuing the recommendations of the report, including the following:
referring the issue of penalty rates and associated award conditions to the Industrial Relations Advisory Committee.
That was in May, Madam Speaker. What has been done so far? If any action has been taken, I suggest that it is not working, because youth unemployment in the ACT, let me stress again, is 56 per cent.
What has been done about reducing labour costs in the Territory, Madam Speaker? The answer is nothing. This Government has failed. It pays the highest average salary in Australia to its public servants, and what kind of leadership is that? Under a Federal Labor Government, Madam Speaker, labour costs increased in 1991 by 6.9 per cent. Once again, they are ABS statistics, not mine. Under a local ALP Government, public servants in the ACT are paid an average of $40,040. In sunny Queensland - Goss territory - public servants are paid, on average, $31,653. I ask you, Madam Speaker: Why does it cost more to employ a public servant in the ACT than it does in Queensland?
The greatest increases in the cost of labour are now recorded in our vital tourism industry. The cost of labour in our tourism industry, Madam Speaker, was up by 14.2 per cent. The unemployment figures in the ACT obviously reflect the economy in the ACT. To steal a phrase of Dr David Chessell's, and as many
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