Mrs BAILEY(7.30 p.m.) —I rise tonight in support of the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Work for the Dole) Bill 1997. I must comment initially on some of the words just spoken by the member for Hotham (Mr Crean). The member for Hotham can talk until he is blue in the face about how successful the Working Nation program was, but just ask the thousands of young people who went through it what the outcome was. The outcome was not a job; it was to be lined up for yet another training program. The legislation that we are debating here this evening will provide the framework for the implementation of the Howard government's work for the dole initiative.

This is an initiative which has received widespread support and acclaim because of its commitment to young unemployed people. Having been left with a legacy of very high youth unemployment and nothing in place to assist those young people—other than the grossly misnamed Working Nation program where young people were merely shunted from one training program to another with little chance of gaining employment and were left with reinforced feelings of helplessness and despondency—it has been left to this government to tackle the major problem of youth unemployment and its accompanying disabilities.

The previous government—and we have just listened to the member for Hotham describe some of the programs that he was associated with—had 13 years to recognise the fact that many of the jobs which largely unskilled and untrained young people previously entered on leaving school have all but disappeared. Sadly, the previous government failed to recognise this fact, and—even worse—they did precious little to address this problem. Their neglect of young people has resulted in today's high levels of youth unemployment and the fact that so many of our young people—and I speak to many throughout my electorate of McEwen—feel neglected by government. However, this government is tackling the problem of high youth unemployment in two major and, I might say, very practical ways.

Firstly, through our schools vocational education programs, the national apprenticeship and traineeship system, and the numeracy and literacy strategies—all neglected by the previous government—this government is ensuring that young people leaving school to enter the work force are equipped with the appropriate skills and level of training required to meet the demands of a rapidly changing work force. Secondly, this government is providing programs which will equip young people with the opportunity to be part of a group that actually contributes a positive outcome for a community—for example, the Green Corps program, where young people between the ages of 17 and 20 can actively participate in projects that, for example, restore degraded land through revegetation. Most importantly, young people will now have the opportunity to restore their own self-esteem and self-confidence by making a contribution to their community in return for receiving financial assistance—in unemployment benefits—through the work for the dole scheme.

I was honoured to be appointed to the work for the dole task force by the Prime Minister (Mr Howard). And I am pleased to be able to say that not just the young people from my electorate of McEwen support what this government is doing on their behalf but so too do the majority of young people throughout our nation: the Herald-Sun published the results of a poll which showed that 94.5 per cent of young people support the work for the dole scheme.

Imagine just for a moment what it must feel like to be a teenager who has just finished school and is looking ahead with eagerness to joining the work force and building a career. You throw yourself into the challenge of looking for work, with all the excitement, dedication and energy you can muster. You keep a positive frame of mind. You look in the papers, send off your resume and letters of application to all the jobs which attract your interest. You visit the CES every day. You ring up employers, inquiring about positions, and you send out your resume to companies you are interested in working for, thinking it only a matter of weeks until you are offered a position.

Then imagine what it must feel like one or two years on when that same person is still without a job, still on the dole queue and still looking for work. That initial sparkle and determination begins to wane, and feelings of despondency, lack of worth and hopelessness set in. It is easy to understand how these young long-term unemployed people may feel of little value to themselves, their family and their community and even lose interest in the job hunt.

Once they lack self-esteem and confidence, this can lead to many other social, emotional, physical and psychological problems, such as depression, crime and even—tragically—suicide. That is why the Howard government recently announced the work for the dole initiative: to help keep our young people motivated while they are looking for work and to help them feel worth while, to boost their self-esteem, to make sure that they do not feel left out and forgotten by society and, most importantly, to provide them with the opportunity to achieve by participating in community projects.

The important thing to remember about the work for the dole scheme is that it is not a labour market program or a jobs subsidy scheme. We are not resurrecting Labor's failed Working Nation program, which failed miserably in helping the young unemployed and was the biggest spending with the lowest outcome program of any labour market programs. Its only success in fact was in recycling unemployed people, as I have said, from one training program to another.

We make no false claims about the work for the dole scheme. It is not a way for the government to artificially manipulate the unemployment figures as the previous government did. Participants will still be recognised by the government as being unemployed. They will still receive unemployment benefits.

The opposition has criticised the work for the dole scheme largely because they now feel guilty that they did not introduce it during their 13 years of government. They have been making wild accusations—for example, that it is a form of slave labour. Nothing could be further from the truth, and they know it. Participants will work a set number of hours each week based on the amount of unemployment benefits they receive divided by the relevant hourly award rate for their age. This equates to two days a week for 18- to 20-year-olds and 2½ days per week for people aged 21 and over. This means they will still have plenty of time to actively look for work. Plus they will receive an extra $20 per fortnight to cover any additional costs like travel for participating in the work for the dole scheme.

Another common misconception is that the scheme will displace jobs from those already employed. It won't do that. Rather, it will provide meaningful work experience to young people receiving unemployment benefits. While some projects may include a training element, the primary objective of the program is to instil workplace discipline and a work ethic in young unemployed people. It will engender a feeling of self-worth, motivate young people to continue searching for work and help them to break the cycle of unproductive activity and isolation that many of them experience.

It will enable them to contribute something back into their communities, whether that be helping with, for example, Meals on Wheels, gardening at the local school or nursing home or helping in the restoration of a local historical site. In this way, a positive effect is created because the community will value their efforts. At the end of the day, participants will be able to feel a sense of pride in achieving and contributing to their community. They will have contributed towards receiving their unemployment benefits.

It is true that Australia is still struggling to recover from the huge unemployment legacy we were left by Labor. Not only did Labor give Australia its worst unemployment level since the Great Depression but it left us with ingrained high unemployment, and youth unemployment hovering at levels of around 30 per cent and even higher than that in some regional and rural areas. We are under no false illusions that there are easy answers to our youth unemployment problem or that significant falls in youth unemployment will magically happen overnight. It will take time to fix Labor's mess and get more young people into full-time jobs.

I must say at this point that I believe it is the height of hypocrisy for Labor members to come in here, one after the other, day after day, and criticise this government for the levels of unemployment that they created. The tragedy is that they had 13 years to do something about the problem of unemployment and they simply sat on their hands, did a lot of talking about so-called training programs, but actually achieved precious little. The proof of their neglect and inactivity is seen in the levels of unemployment we inherited and, in particular, in the high level of youth unem ployment.   Youth unemployment cannot be fixed overnight, it will take time, and this government is under no false illusions whatsoever that the work for the dole scheme is the answer to our youth unemployment problems. We realise that real jobs and lasting employment can only come from providing the right climate for investment and growth. This government is implementing a wide range of policies to attack the structural causes of our high unemployment levels.

We are already starting to see the benefits of initiatives such as flexible workplace arrangements, reformed unfair dismissal laws and exclusion from federal unfair dismissal laws of new employees of small businesses with 15 or less employees until they have one year's continuous service and low interest rates. Until this assistance to small business and industry, from reforms initiated by this government, flows through and starts to take effect, we will not see significant changes to the level of unemployment.

In the meantime, we recognise the plight of young people who just cannot break into the employment market. We must continue to help young unemployed and look at ways to maintain their enthusiasm and self-esteem while they are looking for work. Sadly, many of our young unemployed have known no other life than life on the dole. They have left or finished school and gone straight onto unemployment benefits, thinking it only a temporary situation until they find a job. Without ever being employed, they have not experienced the confidence, self-esteem, personal pride and dignity which a job offers. The work for the dole scheme is designed to fill that gap and, in turn, give young people the motivation, incentive and confidence to keep applying for jobs while benefiting the communities in which they live.

While the opposition continues to be cynical about this scheme, it has received almost unanimous support from the Australian public and certainly from residents in my electorate of McEwen. Comments from young people, published the day after the Herald-Sun poll, indicated 94.5 per cent support. Typical was the comment of an 18-year-old who said:

I think it's a good idea. It's good for the country to give us work and experience rather than hanging off the system.

Two local newspapers in my electorate of McEwen—the Hume Observer , which covers the Craigieburn area, and the Mountain Views , which takes in Healesville, Yarra Glen and Yarra Junction—conducted street polls on the work for the dole issue to gauge local reaction. The comments of local residents were published in the papers on 18 and 19 February respectively.

Overwhelmingly, those canvassed supported the idea. One man from Healesville said:

I think it's a great idea. It gets young people out of the house and teaches them the value of earning money.

Another said:

I think it's a good idea. At least it will give the kids an incentive and gives them something to do with their time.

Yet another, a pensioner, said of the scheme:

I think it's a very good idea. I've seen a lot of people that have lost it through not having any direction and not being able to contribute to society. It will increase motivation. Self-esteem is the biggest problem.

A 21-year-old from Yarra Glen said:

I think it's a great idea. I know that it's no substitute for a job, but to actually be out there doing something would make me feel better and get me ready for when I could work. I'd feel better about taking money each fortnight.

Another important aspect of the work for the dole scheme is that it will enable people on unemployment benefits to make a contribution to their local community in return for the income support they receive. The scheme will focus on community based projects that provide direct benefits for local communities and worthwhile work experience for young people. These projects must be of value to the community and have a significant level of community support.

Since this scheme was first announced, I have been overwhelmed by the number of local organisations in my electorate of McEwen which have expressed a keen interest in the work for the dole scheme. The Shire of Mitchell, Shire of Yarra Ranges, Shire of Murrindindi and Kinglake District Neighbourhood House are just a few of the groups which have indicated their eagerness to become involved in the scheme. They have also forwarded project suggestions to me for the work for the dole scheme which would greatly benefit their local communities. Some of these projects include township development, landscaping and construction works, tourism information work, development of walking trails and refurbishment of local landmarks. Darrell Treloar, the Chief Executive Officer of the Shire of Mitchell, states in correspondence to me:

From the outset I should confirm Mitchell Shire's interest in being involved in piloting this initiative. We are particularly conscious of the problems confronting youth unemployed in the Shire and recognise that this initiative may assist in encouraging and facilitating the young into the workforce.

Mitchell Shire has developed a detailed proposal involving three local projects, which would not only provide young people with a real sense of community involvement, but would help them develop skills and employment contacts, which could help them towards a permanent career path. Shirley Symons from the Kinglake Neighbourhood House said her organisation is very keen to become involved in this new government initiative.

A total of 70 pilot programs will be established, primarily in regions which have the highest levels of youth unemployment. Although there will be some projects established in metropolitan areas, I am pleased that the projects will focus on rural and regional areas, for it is these areas, especially in communities like those in McEwen, which have been the hardest hit by the previous Labor government's woeful economic and unemployment policies. Labor's 13 years in power tore the heart out of many small communities, with business closures and countless job losses. Young people were forced to move to larger regional centres or to capital cities to look for work. This scheme will begin to give something back to those communities and start to repair the trail of destruction Labor left behind.

The government expects that the participation of the vast majority of young people in the work for the dole scheme will be voluntary, and the level of support in the form of expressions of interest and actual submission of projects certainly supports this view. However, this bill does provide the provision that someone in receipt of an unemployment allowance may be required to work in an approved program to receive that allowance. The government plans to publicly seek submissions from local communities that wish to run programs in partnership with the government, local service groups, businesses, welfare groups and young people.

Young people are our future. The Howard government has already shown its commitment to young people through its new traineeship system, the Green Corps, youth homelessness program and national youth suicide strategy, to name but a few. The work for the dole program is another important step towards showing our young people that they do not face the future alone, that they have both the support and the assistance of the government and their local community. I hope that older unemployed people will be able to take on supervisory roles and act as mentors in many of the projects in the work for the dole scheme. (Time expired)