Page 3727 - Week 12 - Thursday, 21 October 1993
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Youth Unemployment
MR DE DOMENICO: Madam Speaker, my question without notice is to the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister this morning, when launching the $1m worth of work for the Canberra region, pleaded with the private sector employers to get behind young unemployed people and give them jobs. That is very commendable. Seeing that so far your Government has, firstly, increased rates, taxes and charges; secondly, legislated specifically to target the entertainment and hospitality industry in terms of occupational health and safety designated work groups; thirdly, restricted the number of people allowed in nightclubs and bars; fourthly, ignored most of the recommendations of the Economic Priorities Advisory Committee; and, fifthly, criticised young people for washing windscreens at traffic lights, what is your Government going to do specifically to reduce the business oncosts and bureaucratic red tape that manacle Canberra businesses? Why does your Government not get behind the private sector so that it can employ more people and reduce our youth unemployment figure of an alarming 37 per cent?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, that was a speech, not a question, and it was a speech that relied wholly and solely on the Liberal ideological cant which we have come to know, but not respect, from members opposite. Underlying Mr De Domenico's so-called question was the Liberal philosophy of work, and that is to have no regard whatsoever for the occupational health and safety of your workers.
Mr De Domenico: That is rubbish and absolute poppycock, as are most of the things that come out of your mouth.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! Mr De Domenico, please allow the Chief Minister to answer your question.
MS FOLLETT: This is the party, Madam Speaker, who brought us the $3 an hour youth wage. What this Government has done to assist in employment in this Territory is something we can take a great deal of credit for. This Government works in partnership with the private sector in the Territory and, in doing so, we have a number of achievements to our credit. We accept that job growth in the Territory has to be in the private sector; but we do not accept, as the Liberals do, that that means that you can exploit every worker, particularly the young workers, that you can screw every last ounce of sweat out of them for the very minimum amount of money.
Our philosophy has been to assist with the provision in this Territory of worthwhile jobs, and we have taken a number of initiatives to do that. Members will be aware that there have been numbers of new enterprises starting up in this Territory in recent years, and one of them is the casino. The interim casino has employed some hundreds of people. The permanent casino, now under construction, is employing some 200 extra people. Once it is completed, that number will rise to 500.
We have also attracted to this Territory a range of new businesses, notably in the high technology area and also in some clean manufacturing areas. Overall, what members opposite loathe to see is that our employment growth in this Territory has been running at around 4 per cent, which is something like
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