Mr LINDSAY (5:31 PM) —I was beginning to get concerned, Mr Speaker. In question time today there were four questions given to NSW members, four to Victorian members, one to a South Australian member and one to a Western Australian member.

Mr SPEAKER —The member for Herbert now has the call so he can be reassured.

Mr LINDSAY —I have a few comments I would like to make about the Jobs Pathway program. This is a tender process. The Jobs Pathway program is an excellent program of the government. It is an initiative that does help young men and women who are at risk of dropping out of school too early. It is an initiative that a large number of students who do not choose to carry on with tertiary or higher education can take part in.

Last year, the Townsville and District Education Centre in Townsville had a contract in a Jobs Pathway program and it achieved an outstanding result. They contracted for a certain number of students and in fact exceeded that number. They achieved a first-class result in getting those young Australians jobs. Through the excellent resources of TADEC in Townsville, about 150 of those students ended up with jobs that they would not otherwise have had.

This year when the contract period came up again this well-performing Jobs Pathway program participant missed out on a contract. In fact, nobody in Townsville got a contract. I know I am being a bit parochial but, as the local member, I could not understand that—it surprised me greatly. Townsville is the capital city of northern Australia and it has the demands and needs that other cities have.

I have now been in contact with the minister's office and I understand that there is going to be some kind of process that will allow a contract to be looked at. I hope that that process proceeds. Those contracts will undergo a review and I think that there will be some kind of fee-for-service arrangement with the Commonwealth to get that back in place in Townsville.

Needless to say, I will be watching that process very closely. I strongly urge the minister, the department and TADEC to work together to try to get an arrangement in place that suits everybody so that the youth employment and education needs of the twin cities as well as the goals of the federal government are met.

TADEC performed over and above what was expected of them. They were contracted for 116 jobs and they succeeded in getting some 150 young people into work. Not only was this a great result at a time of high youth unemployment but it was a great result, full stop. That aside, I strongly support the Jobs Pathway program. Its conception and intro duction was a landmark decision of the first Howard government.

The unemployment numbers coming out today are a great result as well. Not only was the national result terrific but in my own electorate 650 people came off the unemployment lists in the last four weeks. That is a magnificent result and it is something the government can rightly be proud of.

Mrs Bailey —Caring about people.

Mr LINDSAY —Yes, you are absolutely right. I will be making sure my electorate knows about that and about the achievements of this government.