Mr ANDREW THOMSON —My question is to the Minister for Employment Services. Does the minister have any knowledge of publicly expressed views on former labour market programs? Can the minister advise the House of the government's response to any such views? Further, what is the government doing to enhance programs like the successful Work for the Dole program?

Mr ABBOTT (Employment Services) —I thank the member for Wentworth for his question. I am aware of published criticism of the Working Nation program. In his recent book Open Australia the member for Melbourne said that labour market programs under the former government led:

. . . to perverse outcomes, with some unemployed people forced to undertake inappropriate and even demoralising training.

Labor MPs regularly encountered people who had done several courses and still had little chance of finding a job.

This government is determined to do better, and that is why we have introduced the Work for the Dole program, to get away from the training for training's sake treadmill of Working Nation. While the Labor Party engages in mindless nitpicking and the politics of resentment, this government is getting on with the job.

The Work for the Dole program is a success, but we are determined to build on that. We are determined to make a fine program even better. We want more community organisations involved. We want to give more participants a wider range of work experience. So last Friday I announced some changes to the way this program will be managed. We are moving towards a brokered model of managing the scheme. We are introducing community work coordinators to act as intermediaries between the government on the one hand and key community groups and participants on the other. In future, community groups wishing to host Work for the Dole participants will not have to tender themselves, they will simply approach a community work coordinator, and this should result in the possibility of shorter, smaller and more varied projects as well as the projects that are already operating.

I am sure the House will be pleased to know that a survey of 3,000 Western Australian teenagers has shown that 80 per cent think that Work for the Dole is a good idea; only 16 per cent disagree with the idea. The survey also found that only one in 10 strongly believed the dole was a right and not a privilege. On this issue, Western Australian teenagers make a lot more sense than the Leader of the Opposition.