Page 665 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 23 March 1993
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I know that that sounds very odd to the Liberals opposite. They are unable to comprehend that kind of a strategy. All of the things they have said today underscore their total lack of understanding. But that is the case. We do what we say that we are going to do. We will do it this year; we will do it next year. The program for the year reflects very much that case.
I want to take up two particular issues. One issue is unemployment. I must admit that members opposite have made a great deal of the fact that I ought to be legislating to create jobs. That is a new one on me. I am not aware, at this particular point, of just how that could be achieved and what kind of legislation might be helpful in order to create jobs. I have repeatedly advised this Assembly of the action which the Government is taking in order to create jobs in the ACT. The knockers opposite, of course, fail to observe that in the year up to January last there had, in fact, been 11,600 additional jobs created in the ACT. It does not suit their arguments, of course. It would not suit them at all to know that there had been a very great number of jobs created.
It does not suit their arguments, either, to recognise that I have frequently acknowledged the problem of unemployment in our community and that I have outlined, over and over again, the steps which this Government is taking, by way of cooperation with the private sector, by way of encouragement to industries to come to the ACT, by way of negotiation with particular companies on establishment in the ACT. The Liberals opposite, of course, are unwilling to ever comment on the success of those ventures. We are working on the issue, and we are having some success.
In the area of teenage unemployment, the 15- to 19-year-olds, I have repeatedly said that the level of unemployment there is unacceptably high. I have repeatedly outlined to the Assembly the actions the Government is taking to address the issue. I instance our Youth Conservation Corps, our venture and development assistance program, our youth services grants program, the Impact program, the youth work force development scheme, the traineeships, the additional places at the Institute of Technology and the additional apprenticeships, and so on. These are all steps designed to assist with that problem of youth unemployment or, more specifically, teenage, age 15 to 19 years, unemployment.
But I have to say that when I took a particular action, which was to write to every Canberra business, as Mrs Carnell asserted, saying that we would welcome their assistance in employing young people, Mr Kaine went public, criticising me. He could not see anything positive in it whatsoever. When I established a hot line to help those businesses find out what assistance was available to them in employing young people, Mr Kaine had nothing positive whatsoever to say about that.
Mr Kaine: That is right, because that was a wank.
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I would ask that that word be withdrawn.
Mr Kaine: What is wrong with that word? It is common usage. Everybody uses it.
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