Page 1468 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Shockingly, Treasurer Morrison has included an internship scheme that he refers to as “real jobs and real experience”. I know there are many issues on which Mr Morrison and I do not see eye to eye, but I cannot believe that he would want to see young people he cares about working for $4 an hour. It is definitely not the future that I would want for my children, and it is not the future that I would want for the children who live and are growing up here in the ACT. This creates a farcical situation that opens up vulnerable young people to be exploited even more.
Mr Wall interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Wall, can you—
Mr Gentleman: A point of order.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Gentleman.
Mr Gentleman: Madam Deputy Speaker, Mr Wall keeps interjecting while the minister is speaking.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: I was about to make that point. Mr Wall, please, no interjections across the room. Ms Berry.
MS BERRY: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. As I was saying, this creates a farcical situation that will open up young people in our community to even further exploitation. All young people—in fact all workers—require on-the-job training. This program that was announced last night does nothing more than insert more instability and more uncertainty into the lives of young people who are trying to get their first toehold on the employment ladder, and it is all paid for by the Australian taxpayer.
Treasurer Morrison seemed to believe last night that this program would create more work for young Australians. I do not know how he came to that conclusion. This program pays businesses $1,000 to put on interns without incurring any costs to themselves, and with no requirement for formal on-the-job training. Far from creating jobs, this program creates an incentive for young people to do work for a taxpayer-funded $4 that would otherwise need to be done by a fully paid worker. If businesses are being offered the choice of employing a young person for $4 or employing them on the minimum wage of $17, and to be paid $1,000 to employ the young person for $4, that creates the opportunity for even more young people to become unemployed and to be employed under this farcical employment program that the federal Treasurer called the “real work for the dole” scheme. It is a program that does nothing but cut off opportunity for full-time work for the young people who need it most in our community and across Australia.
Finally, after the Treasurer announced programs that make it harder for young people to get qualified and even harder for them to get a job, he then decided to make it harder for those young people who do make it through by refusing to undertake tax reform that would make it possible for them to get an affordable house.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video