Mr TONY SMITH (11:26 AM) —I am, in one sense, pleased to be able to speak on this report. In another sense, I feel the enormous responsibility that this generation bears towards our younger generation. One feels, I suppose, more concerned about an issue like youth suicide and general suicide, I might add, in the community when one is a parent. In my own case, I have two sons—one has just turned 21 and one is not long 18. Through all the trauma of last week when I resigned from the Liberal Party, the thing foremost in my mind, more than anything else, was the welfare of my 18-year-old son because he is one of those young people who is very much struggling with his identity, struggling with trying to get a job and struggling with a direction.

As a parent, one feels an acute sense of concern at times about what is really going on in his mind, when I think that, at 18, I was three-quarters of the way through my apprenticeship. It was so easy to get a job in the 1960s, let us face it. When I left school at 15, I had an apprenticeship offered to me as a carpenter the Monday after I finished school on the Friday. I did not take it because I thought I needed a bit of a break from school. I was only 15, and I said, `No.' But, having returned to school for a brief few weeks for grade 11 the following year, I decided that school was not for me and I walked straight into an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner.

Young people cannot do that today. That really is the core of the problem here. This is in no sense intended as a criticism of the report, but we have to look to the causes and the factors. The essential cause of this problem, the core reason perhaps, if I may say so, is the lack of employment opportunities for young people. I see it in my own electorate.

I recall a very emotionally charged meeting just before the last federal election. Generally speaking, it was partisan political where people from one side were saying it was the other side's fault and the other side was saying it was the other side's fault. In the midst of that, the Salvation Army chaplain got up and said, `Look, the real problem around here is unemployment. That is the problem. Get the employment situation right, get these young people into work, get them a direction, get them a goal, get them some opportunity to work for a living and plan a future where they can look forward to meeting a girl, falling in love, getting married and having kids and a home. That is when you'll give them something to look forward to.'

That was the opportunity that I had as a young person, but it is not the opportunity that my sons have, especially my No. 2 son—and I have two younger ones coming on. They do not have those opportunities. That is the concern of every parent and, I am sure, every parent in this House who has young children. What opportunities have we bequeathed to our young people? We need to come to terms with that challenge. We need to realise that that is the most fundamental thing of all—giving them a job, giving them something to aspire to, to move on to, and creating in their minds that a job is an honourable thing.

There is a notion these days, which was not present in my day, that there is something wrong with working with your hands and that you really need to be in an office job somewhere, sitting before a computer, doing something that is more of a professional job. The emphasis is put on having a professional job. We have nurses going back to university instead of doing their time as apprentices on the hospital floor. They are in university, they do one year in the wards and they call themselves nurses. They are not the nurses of old.

People say that you need an education to get on in life—the emphasis being that an education is something you learn from other people—and that that is the way ahead, as opposed to working with tools, digging with a pick and shovel. While that might be seen to be menial, at least it is achieving something. Even to dig a hole and put a post in or build a fence, while it is labouring work, is an achievement. There is a notion around that somehow or other that sort of work is not as good. That is inculcated into young people, and young people are turned off by that a bit. People say that they are lazy. I do not think they are lazy; they are just turned off a bit.

There is a notion that you have to jump right up to the top from the very first job you have. I know that some young people quite clearly think that is where they should be starting, rather than at the bottom. Then there is another group of young people who are working for nothing, frequently for months on end, just to get work experience. I am glad to say that I have had a couple of such young people through my office. I am not glad to say that they were working for nothing—I gave them money at times when I could—but the fact is that they moved on to other jobs. I am pleased to have made a small contribution in my own electorate to help some local young kids to move on. One is now working for Boral in a good job, but he worked for me on and off for six months before that. We could all in our own small ways—and I am sure many members do—provide that sort of guidance. I get back to this very important concept that a job is more important than anything else.

In the midst of all of this, there are a couple of other points I want to mention. People are feeling alienation from the system, too. That alienation is being reflected in Queensland. I know of people very close to me who are saying that they are going to vote for One Nation in the Queensland election. They are not racist. They are just sick of the system. They feel left out of the system. It is no good saying that anybody who is going to vote for One Nation is a racist. They are not racist; they are sick of the system.

A message is going to be sent to our political leaders on Saturday week stronger than any message that has been received in recent years; I guarantee it. People are going to be shocked and surprised at what is going to happen in Queensland in a week and a half. I can only say that that will be as a result of alienation. We have to recognise that. Young people are saying, `I am going to vote for One Nation.' People who have never voted before are saying that, and they are saying that because they are alienated. They do not want a system that is leaving them out in the cold. They want a system that says, `We are going to do something for you. We are listening to you.' I wish they would listen to people who do provide a reasonable way ahead. Unfortunately, they do not see that. They see those people as part of the system that they want to rebel against; the system that has not given them a job, that has not given them a future. That is what we, as members of parliament, have to remember.

Another relevant point is the element of family breakdown and another that was identified in the report is a lack of spiritual direction for kids. There is no spiritual direction. Mr Deputy Speaker, you will be aware of that. I do not want to sound like I am preaching at a Billy Graham crusade. If anyone needs converting, I do. But, believe you me, we had much more spirituality in our community when we were younger; we could turn to religious figures if we were in trouble.

I remember the broadcaster Hayden Sargent, who was a minister in the Church of Christ. He used to run coffee shops and things like that for young people to give them spiritual direction. Now we talk about counselling services. While they are genuine, it is a yearning for spirituality that we are seeing. These kids have no direction. They have no-one to turn to. I think some of us should say that there is a God that they can turn to, and that they should be doing that.

Another issue is family breakdown. Frequently, our laws are hastening family breakdown instead of trying to prevent it. Instead of trying to nurture the family, our laws seem to be in a mad rush to disintegrate the family. Overall, I think the picture this report paints is one that needs addressing. It is not just me who is saying that; a lot of people are saying that.

In all sincerity, let us get something done about jobs. It is easy to say that, but why aren't we addressing that issue? As I have said before in this House, we need major capital works programs in this country to get these sorts of jobs going, to get the economy moving. Even if it means spending money to do that, the net result will be far better, and the social result from that sort of spending will prevent the costs associated with the downside—the absolute fortune spent on prisons and the dreadful impact of suicide on families.

I commend the report, and I do recognise the members of this committee as genuine, decent people, trying to strive to come up with something that will help Australian society.