Page 3339 - Week 11 - Thursday, 22 September 1994
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Madam Speaker, I would like briefly to compare the specific points raised in the terms of reference of my motion with the information that the Chief Minister has given in her statement and the terms of reference which she has given the ACT Government Service Social Justice Committee for their task. In particular, I believe that the Chief Minister has addressed the nature and scope of teenage unemployment in her statement, and I trust that the Social Justice Committee will also specifically address the emerging issue of gender differences. The extent to which teenage unemployment is structural has been addressed, in part, in the statement, but may again merit consideration by the Social Justice Committee. The establishment of education and training opportunities is again addressed by the statement and the first two terms of reference for the Social Justice Committee. The likely future employment patterns and related training needs have not been explicitly addressed in this statement and may merit consideration by EPACT. The issue of providing information to school leavers and the community has been addressed by the Social Justice Committee's third term of reference. The Chief Minister has proposed a range of solutions, effectively to lower teenage unemployment levels. Madam Speaker, in conclusion, I would once again like to thank the Chief Minister for her receptiveness to my representations. I trust that the measures she has outlined in her statement will go some considerable way to lowering teenage unemployment in the ACT.
MR DE DOMENICO (4.10): Madam Speaker, I would like to make some brief comments on the Chief Minister's statement. Whilst there is very little in the statement that one could disagree with, because it is a mere retelling of the story that the Chief Minister has told us time and again, I would like to comment on some of the other things that I believe the Government has done that and have not helped the fact that we have had teenage unemployment of over 30 per cent since Ms Szuty put her motion on the notice paper on 30 March 1993. Let me take the first comment that the Chief Minister made. She said:
It is important that we do not regard the Territory as an island.
I agree with the Chief Minister. In fact, it is important that we do not regard the Territory as an island. What the Chief Minister says and what the Chief Minister's Government does are usually opposites. There is no better example of that antithesis than in the occupational health and safety measures which were brought in by the former Industrial Relations Minister, Mr Berry. On the one hand, we are told that it is important that we do not regard the Territory as an island. However, we note that a designated work group in New South Wales is 20; a designated work group in Queensland is 30; and what does the ACT Government do?
It makes a designated work group in the ACT 10. The Chief Minister has acknowledged, and the whole community acknowledges, that the major areas in the future for youth employment in the ACT will be the areas of retail, hospitality, tourism and personal services. I can recall that, when the former Industrial Relations Minister, Mr Berry, moved to change the designated work group from 20 to 10, he targeted those very industries as the ones likely to be affected by such a change in the legislation. That was the first point I wanted to make.
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