Coalition to take real action to combat long term unemployment
17/08/10
The Coalition will provide real incentives and assistance to help the long-term unemployed re-enter the workforce and stay off welfare.
Long-term unemployment has a corrosive impact on individuals, families and society at large. Allowing people who could readily work to stay out of the workforce for long periods is cruelty not compassion.
The Coalition’s Plan for Real Action to Support the Long-Term Unemployed into Jobs will assist jobseekers to relocate to areas of employment opportunity and to retain permanent employment.
To this end, we will introduce a new Job Commitment Bonus to encourage young Australians who are long-term unemployed on Newstart Allowance (NSA) or Youth Allowance to take a job and keep it.
Young Australians under 30 who have been unemployed for twelve months or more and are on NSA or Youth Allowance will receive a $2,500 Job Commitment Bonus if they get a job and remain off welfare for a period of 12 months.
The Coalition will provide a further Job Commitment Bonus of $4,000 to the jobseeker if they remain in a job and off welfare for a further 12 months, a total period of 24 months.
A Coalition Government will also introduce a Job Seeker Relocation Payment of up to $6,000 to unemployed jobseekers on NSA if they move to a regional area to take up a job offer. The Coalition will offer a payment of up to $3,000 available for all unemployed jobseekers on NSA in areas of high unemployment if they move to a metropolitan area to take up a job offer.
Unlike Labor’s scheme, which is a trial limited to 2000 jobseekers only, the Coalition’s Job Seeker Relocation Payment will be available to all unemployed jobseekers on NSA. There is no age limit to the Coalition’s Job Seeker Relocation Payment.
Jobseekers that do not remain in the job they have accepted for a period of at least six months will be subject to a six month waiting period before they are able to receive any further benefits, unless reasonable grounds for job separation can be demonstrated.
People relocating between capital cities or within capital cities will not be eligible for the benefit.
The Coalition has already announced that to help overcome the reluctance of some employers to hire older jobseekers, the Coalition will introduce a one-off $3250 Seniors Employment Incentive Payment for employers that hire mature workers aged 50 years or older.
The Incentive Payment will be paid to employers who hire a jobseeker that is currently unemployed or out of the workforce, registered with Centrelink and on benefits.
The Coalition is also strongly committed to practical delivery of the Australian Employment Covenant.
The Australian Employment Covenant is presently limited to indigenous Australians. The Coalition will seek to expand eligibility for the Covenant to all Australians who have been unemployed for 12 months of longer.
The Coalition is determined to ensure that people aren’t abandoned to a lifetime of welfare dependency but are engaged in work if they are reasonably capable of it. Our Real Action Plan to Combat Long-Term Unemployment will go a long way towards this goal.
The Coalition wants to build an opportunity society for all Australians. Our paid parental leave will help to provide women with greater opportunity. The Seniors Employment Incentive Payment that will help to give older people more opportunity.
The measures announced today provide a new deal for young people and the long term unemployed who might otherwise be trapped in long-term welfare dependency.
Soylent green?