Budget 2014
E&OE
DAVID SPEERS:
Back to the Budget though and a lot of the battle today and indeed through the course of this week has been about the tough changes for young jobseekers as announced on Budget night two weeks ago, the Government intends for those under the age of 30 to either make them earn or learn and if they’re not earning in a job or learning through some form of study, well they won’t receive unemployment benefits, the dole, for a six month period.
Today they’ve announced Work for the Dole programs and we’ve shown you where those programs will initially be implemented, in high unemployment areas of each state. This is what will happen, this is what will apply to those who’ve been out of work now for 12 months, so right now, if you’re out of work, from July this year, these changes will apply to you, but who will this six months of no dole at all apply to? I spoke to Kevin Andrews, the Minister for Social Services a little earlier.
Minister, thank you for your time, I just want to go back to what you’ve announced in the Budget and explain clearly for us, the young unemployed, those under 30 who are currently unemployed, what happens to them under this change that you’ve proposed?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
It’s basically, as the name suggests, earn or learn, so what we want people to be doing is be in a job, or in training. So if you are capable of working for more than 30 hours a week, there’s exemptions so if you can’t work that long, if you’re in a disability employment service, if you’re a parent with parenting responsibilities then you’re exempted from this, but otherwise, if you don’t have a job then we’re expecting you to do some training. If you’re doing neither of those then you’ll have a six month waiting period in order to get the dole.
DAVID SPEERS:
And does that, that applies to those currently in that situation?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
This is for new job seekers, so for new job seekers, this is how it will apply to them in the future.
DAVID SPEERS:
So not current job seekers?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
No, current job seekers. The announcement made by Luke Hartsuyker, the Minister for Employment Services today, for current jobs seekers who have been unemployed and in receipt of the New Start for 12 months or more, they, if they’re in one of those 18 locations that the Minister announced, then they will have Work for the Dole requirements.
DAVID SPEERS:
Ok, so they can access Work for the Dole, and if they do 25 hours a week of Work for the Dole then they’ll receive the New Start Allowance.
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Yes, that’s the…
DAVID SPEERS:
Ok, and so the change that you’re talking about for new job seekers, new from what date?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
New from next year, so…
DAVID SPEERS:
From January 1
MINISTER ANDREWS:
January of next year, then what we’re saying is, if you’re not in one of those exempt categories, that is you are fully capable of working, because you can work more than 6 hours a day, then we expect you to either be working or in training, now if you go into training, and we’ve expanded the number of courses that you can get assistance for, if you go into training, you can be eligible for the Youth Allowance, you can be eligible for Austudy or Abstudy.
DAVID SPEERS:
But you cannot do Work for the Dole for six months.
MINISTER ANDREWS:
And you won’t be doing Work for the Dole for six months in that category.
DAVID SPEERS:
Ok, so it won’t apply to anyone currently in that situation, but from January next year, you’re going to have six months without the dole
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Depending on your work history. So if you’ve been a young person, you’ve gone into a job, you’ve been working for, say, five years and you were made redundant or lost your job for whatever reason, you will get a month off that six month period for every year that you’ve been in work, and obviously there’ll be some pro-rata
DAVID SPEERS:
Okay, but if someone finishes school or even university at the end of this year and then at the start of next year, they don’t have a job, they’re not going to have any work history.
MINISTER ANDREWS:
No, that’s true…
DAVID SPEERS:
What happens to them?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
And because of that we’re saying that they’re the very people that we have to ensure, if they’re not in a job then they’re training for a job in the future.
What we do know David is that if somebody is on welfare in their mid-30s, there’s a very high proportion of those who were on welfare when they were in their late teens or early 20s, so to cut this cycle, to ensure that people are not on welfare for a long period of time, we’re taking a fairly tough approach, and that is, if you can’t get a job, get into the training that will actually get you a job so we can stop this cycle of welfare.
DAVID SPEERS:
What if you’ve done the training though and there just isn’t a job to be found?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
There are jobs and there is other assistance for people to move, there’s assistance in terms of taking on people who need assistance as well as that. There are jobs. Let me give you an example, in Northern Tasmania, where there’s a lot of horticulture, the growers there have difficulty getting people to do the work and in fact they’re bringing in backpackers and seasonal workers from elsewhere and yet we’ve got a high youth unemployment rate in Tasmania, so there’s a disconnect between where there are jobs. My view is that people should be prepared to take whatever job is available. I mean I did when I was a young person, many young people do that, because if you get a job, that’s usually the first step to getting another job. You get some experience, you get some, you know, work experience and you have an approach to work and that leads you to get more jobs in the future.
DAVID SPEERS:
Of course, to do that, to go to somewhere like northern Tasmania, for a lot of the young people would mean losing the family support, the accommodation, food, whatever else they receive at home. That’s an added cost for them as well.
MINISTER ANDREWS:
True, but we have got a high minimum wage, first or second highest minimum wage in the world, it’s not as is we are saying that people should go and take jobs for four or five dollars an hour, that’s not the Australian way, we’ve got high minimum wages, and it’s possible for people to be able to take jobs and from that, get further jobs, get experience and therefore get more stable employment.
DAVID SPEERS:
Is there a danger, this is the point that Labor, the Greens and others have made, is that you are going to entrench young Australians in unemployment by, at that earliest opportunity, having no help for them at all.
MINISTER ANDREWS:
No, to the contrary, and they have got help, as I said, if you can’t get a job and there is training available for you, go and get the training and there is a whole range of education supports available and we’ve expanded the range of education supports so we’re saying in a proactive way, we want you to be able to work. So if there’s a step to getting work, that means get some training, we’ll help you to get the training, if you do that, then your prospects of getting a job are so much greater
DAVID SPEERS:
Minister, we’ll have to leave it there, thanks for your [inaudible]
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Thanks David, good, pleasure. Ends.