Page 2105 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 5 June 2019
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they would make different choices and have different priorities. ACT Labor is putting the provision of well-paid, secure jobs at number one on our list of priorities, not just ensuring that the ACT government is a good boss but also providing an incentive and good regulation to make sure private sector workers have the best possible conditions.
We need to support our most vulnerable workers, those in casual or contract work. It is time for our workforce to be permanent, to be ongoing, and to be secure. Secure employment does not just provide the employee with the security to buy a house with a mortgage, raise a family and sleep at night without the stress of insecure employment; it also means people can commit to full roles within their community.
Secure employment supports people to commit to coaching their daughter’s footy team, acting as a dependable carer for a relative or friend, or contributing to the community in thousands of other ways. Secure, well-paid employment is the bedrock of a strong community. We can achieve that by being a model employer. We can achieve that through the implementation of the secure local jobs code. We can achieve that by maintaining a strong local economy.
But that is not enough. We also need to ensure we provide the training so that our young people, or those who need or want to be retrained, have the skills for the job. Maintaining a highly skilled workforce matters because it attracts employers and gives workers the ability to start their own businesses, if that is their choice. The establishment of a future skills for future jobs program is one way that apprentices will be supported. As I have said many times in this place, I started my career as an apprentice hairdresser, and it was one of my most favourite times. But it was a very different time, particularly to today.
I am pleased to see the Barr Labor government acknowledge the important roles apprentices and tradespeople play in our city and our economy. Australia has given us a federal government interested only in what it can take from Canberra. That means it is time for us to take care of ourselves. It is not pleasant but it is true.
We have to do what we have to do to take care of ourselves. We want to make sure Canberra grows as a high-wage economy. That means high skills and good jobs. That means training. That means diversifying our economy. And that is exactly what ACT Labor means to do.
Debate interrupted in accordance with standing order 74 and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for a later hour.
Sitting suspended from 11.55 am to 2.00 pm.
Questions without notice
Public housing—relocations
MR COE: The question I have is for the Minister for Housing and Suburban Development. Minister, I understand that residents in a particular public housing complex in Canberra will be transferred out with the assistance of Housing ACT
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