Mrs HULL (4:05 PM) —Employment National as a partner in the government's Job Network is about getting people jobs. It is that simple. Since the establishment of the Job Network, the government has turned a bureaucratic system into a workable enterprise that is finding jobs for people, yet the member for Dickson wants to bring back that lumbering bureaucracy with her Job Network Monitoring Authority Bill 2000. I am standing here this afternoon defending a network of employment opportunities in the face of another Labor member of parliament wanting to take us back to the days of high unemployment and a slow and inefficient job finding system. For instance, in the early nineties one CES office, under the previous Labor government, had 3,500 job seekers registered with the same name, the same address and the same date of birth. That is what the member for Dickson wants to bring back into play. Another office regularly recorded 1,000 referrals to and placements with the town's largest employer in order to increase its monthly performance statistics. Again, that is what the member for Dickson wants to impose on us. Another office created so many phoney referrals and registrations that the staffing formula indicated 35 staff should have been required to run the office. In fact, I think there were about four in there. Is this really what the member for Dickson wants to reinstate? Surely not. But, then again, stranger things have happened with the member for Dickson.

It was good for me to do the research to support the minister on this MPI because it gave me a great sense of satisfaction and pleasure to be a part of such an effective government, led by this Prime Minister and our Deputy Prime Minister. I inform members on this side of the House how well we have done: yes, coalition members of government, we have done good. Let me go back a little to the 13 years of Labor rule, when unemployment averaged 8.7 per cent. Under the coalition, unemployment has averaged just 7.8 per cent. But in my electorate of Riverina, maximum unemployment was 13 per cent in January 1993. Currently, unemployment in my electorate of Riverina is 7.1 per cent.

Government members—Hear, hear.

Mrs HULL —Hear, hear indeed. My electorate of Riverina has benefited directly from the introduction of Job Network. The Job Network has outperformed the old CES by close to 50 per cent in putting unemployed people into work and by nearly 100 per cent in putting job vacancies onto the Australian Job Search database. What is more, Job Network programs have consistently outperformed Working Nation programs in putting harder to help job seekers back to work. Job Search Training has been 50 per cent more effective than Job Clubs, at under half the cost. We talk about cost. Intensive assistance has been nearly 20 per cent more effective than the full suite of Working Nation programs at scarcely half the cost. This government has created new structures to empower community organisations rather than central bureaucracy. This government has turned service recipients into active citizens again. By funding a range of community organisations on a strict performance basis, government becomes an enabler rather than a director.

Mrs HULL —Not only does Job Network assist the unemployed, the member for Dickson might take note; it indeed assists employers. We assist employers by providing experienced recruitment professionals; by saving employers time and money; by offering a service—no task is too big or too small for Job Network members; and employers can work with one Job Network member who really gets to know their business and the kind of employee that business requires to enable them to entrust their operations in their employees' hands. As far as this government is concerned, what matters is getting people back into work. How Job Network members bring this about is almost entirely up to them. This government is a virtual silent partner in the Job Network, and so it should be. The government stakes the capital and reviews the performance; otherwise, it leaves community agencies alone to run themselves. One thing the government has done, however, is to conduct a full study of Job Network and Australia's other employment service and labour market arrangements. In addition, this government has released comprehensive data on the performance of employment services generally over the past 12 months.

The government will continue to release this data every quarter. These measures will further boost public confidence—and I hope they boost the confidence of the member for Dickson—in Job Network. It will perhaps serve to dispel unjustified suspicion that the government might be seeking to avoid scrutiny. This is an open and transparent Job Network and an open and transparent government. The Job Network is not just a better way of delivering employment services; it is also a new way of conceptualising employment services. It is a shift from standard private and public sector approaches, because Job Network members are largely paid on performance. It ensures employment services work hard to find their clients work. I ask you: `Isn't that what they are supposed to do?' Isn't that what unemployed Australians are entitled to? Unlike the Labor Party, who would have the long-term unemployed stay at home and collect benefits, this government, through its Job Network, has provided training and opportunity to enable the long-term unemployed to play a worthwhile role in society.

Ms Kernot —Have you heard of Employment National?

Mrs HULL —I am so confident in the Job Network, and in particular in Employment National, that, under the management of Paul Morgan, I choose to do my employing through that agency in the Riverina. In the face of the statement that the government has poorly managed the affairs of Employment National, I ask the Labor Party to look at the levels of unemployment now, compared with the levels under the previous Labor government, and to look at the substantial number of programs the Job Network has created. Just look at today's unemployment figure. Just to remind you: in the Riverina in 1993 we had 13 per cent unemployment. Now in the Riverina it is 7.1 per cent unemployment. Those figures speak for themselves. Then we have the code of conduct of Job Network. What an impressive code of conduct it is. You could not find a more impressive code of conduct. The six principles in the code of conduct are:

a very important principle—

This book here contains an admirable code of conduct. I stand here today quite proud of the fact that a code of conduct exists to enable the people of Australia, and the people of my electorate of Riverina, to become employed, to have self-esteem and to have their own valuable place in this society. This is what this government provides, this is what this government will continue to provide and this is what the previous Labor government always failed to provide.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Jenkins)—Order! The time for the discussion has concluded.