Bills Digest no. 43 2009–10
Social Security Amendment (National Green Jobs Corps
Supplement) Bill 2009
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage history
Purpose
Background
Financial implications
Main provisions
Concluding comments
Contact officer & copyright details
Passage history
Date
introduced: 17
September 2009
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Employment and Workplace
Relations
Commencement:
Upon Royal
Assent
Links: The
relevant links to the Bill, Explanatory Memorandum and second
reading speech can be accessed via BillsNet, which is at http://www.aph.gov.au/bills/.
When Bills have been passed they can be found at ComLaw, which is
at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/.
The purpose of this Bill is to
amend the Social Security Act 1991 to enable the temporary
payment of a $41.60 supplement per fortnight to participants in the
National Green Jobs Corps program who are in receipt of Youth
Allowance (other), Newstart Allowance or the Parenting Payment. The
supplement is to be payable to those people who participate in the
National Green Jobs Corps between 1 January 2010 and 31 December
2011.
In his opening address to the ALP National Conference on 30 July
2009, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that the Federal
Government would spend $94 million over three years to create 50
000 new green jobs and training places.[1] The green jobs and training package is
comprised of 30 000 apprenticeships to equip young people with
practical job-ready green skills; 10 000 places in the National
Green Jobs Corps; 6000 new local jobs that focus on environmental
sustainability in communities struggling as a result of the
financial crisis; and, 4000 training places for long-term and
disadvantaged unemployed people in ceiling insulation
installation.[2] The
package is intended to serve two main purposes: firstly, it is to
help combat youth unemployment in a time of economic downturn (in
which young unemployed people are typically the worst hit) and,
secondly, it is to assist in tackling environmental problems and
the impacts of climate change.[3]
The National Green Jobs Corps program is described as a 26 week
environmental work experience and training program that is targeted
at low-skilled (that is people who have been unemployed for more
than 12 months, and especially those who have not completed Year
12) 17 to 24 year olds.[4] Participants are to undertake work experience and skills
development on environmental and heritage projects, with 130 hours
of this training leading to a nationally-recognised qualification
(such as a Certificate I or a Certificate II qualification in
horticulture or conservation and land management).[5] Participation in the program will
also enable young unemployed people to meet their participation
obligations for the receipt of Youth Allowance (other), Newstart
Allowance or Parenting Payment income support.
The program itself is not new: a Green Corps program has been
operating continuously in Australia from 1997 to 30 June 2009. What
is new is that participants in the updated and re-named program are
to be provided (at least temporarily) with a supplement to their
income support payments both as an incentive to participate in the
program and to assist in this participation. This amounts to an
extension of the existing Training Supplement paid to eligible
Newstart Allowance and Parenting Payment Single recipients who
commence approved courses between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2011 to
National Green Jobs Corps program participants.[6]
To date, there has been very little specific commentary on the
Bill itself, or on the National Green Jobs Corps program. Much of
the relevant discussion has focused instead on the general
announcement that the Government would create 50 000 new green
jobs, traineeships and apprenticeships. In particular, commentary
has centred on the question of just how many new jobs as opposed to
training and work experience places would actually be created as a
part of the initiative. And it is in relation to the National Green
Jobs Corps program that this question has been asked most
pointedly.
Almost immediately following the Prime Minister s announcement,
Senator Mark Arbib, the newly-appointed Minister for Employment
Participation, was asked whether the 10 000 National Green
Jobs Corps places were jobs or training places. In response,
Senator Arbib is reported to have said, it s a fine line. Work
experience, though, is a job. These people will be working, day in,
day out, on these green projects. They will be getting paid to do
that work. It is a job. [7] Senator Arbib was at the time unable to clarify whether
or not participants would continue to be paid income support whilst
on the program, and admitted that he was not clear on the details
of the program.
In response to Senator Arbib s comments, the Shadow Minister for
Employment Participation, Training and Sport Dr Andrew Southcott
MP, argued that the National Green Jobs Corps places are work
experience and not jobs. Dr Southcott is reported as having stated,
they are not jobs, and it is incredibly disturbing that the
Minister for Employment Participation thinks they are. [8]
Following similar lines, Dr Southcott was critical of the Prime
Minister s announcement as a whole. Dr Southcott reportedly
described the announcement as seriously misleading on the grounds
that not only are there only 6000 actual jobs, opposed to 44 000
training or work experience placements, but these jobs are from the
Jobs Fund that has been announced on several occasions. [9] This last charge that the
announcement was largely an exercise in recycling of previously
announced initiatives is one that Southcott specifically levelled
at the National Green Jobs Corps:
Green Corps was an initiative of the former
Coalition Government. Labor has added in the word Jobs to the name,
yet has failed to define a pathway between this training and an
actual, paid job.[10]
It is indeed the case that the Green Corps was a Coalition
Government initiative. The Green Corps program was announced in the
federal budget on 20 August 1996, and commenced in 1997. Despite
the change in name, the program remains essentially the same.
However, there are two main differences between the Green Corps and
National Green Jobs Corps programs. The first is that where the
program was previously for young people aged between 17 and 20
years, it has now been expanded to include 17 to 25 year olds. The
second difference is the payment of the $41.60 training supplement
to program participants in addition to Youth Allowance (other),
Newstart Allowance or Parenting Payment, rather than a single
training allowance payment.
While it may be argued that the National Green Jobs Corps is
essentially a rebadged Coalition Government initiative, it has
equally been argued that the Coalition Government s Green Corp was
itself, to all intents and purposes, a rebadged Labor
initiative.
In 1992 the Keating Government established the Landcare and
Environment Action Programme, known as LEAP. This program, which
was administered by the then Department of Employment, Education
and Training (DEET) sought primarily to improve the long-term
employment prospects of young people aged between 15 and 20 years
through formal training and practical experience. The program also
aimed to broaden participants practical know-how and to equip them
with new skills specifically for projects promoting landcare,
environment, cultural heritage and conservation activities.[11]
The course consisted of 26 weeks of formal and on-the-job
training, which was delivered by service providers contracted by
DEET through a public tendering process. Service providers made
available practical experience placements within projects that were
focused on landcare, cultural heritage or conservation.
Participants were paid a taxable training allowance that varied
according to their age. The LEAP program was open to all young
people aged 15 to 20 years who were registered with the
Commonwealth Employment Service (CES), but special priority was
given to long term unemployed and disadvantaged job
seekers.[12]
The LEAP program ended when the Keating Government lost office
in 1996 and, as noted above, the new Howard Government introduced
the Green Corps program soon after.
When asked in an interview on 23 August 1996 what he thought of
the new Green Corps program, the then leader of the Opposition, Kim
Beazley, reportedly described it as the rebadged LEAP program.
Beazley went on to accuse the Howard Government of rebadging the
program at about a tenth of the expenditure that was invested by
the former Labor Government.[13]
In response to claims that the Green Corps program was basically
LEAP rebadged, on 12 May 1998, Tony Abbott, the then Parliamentary
Secretary to the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and
Youth Affairs, insisted that the
Green Corps is different from previous
environmental jobs programmes (such as LEAP) because it comprises
volunteers only and is managed, on the Government s behalf, by a
respected, community-based environmental organisation, the
Australian Trust for Conservation Volunteers. Green Corps is not
confined to unemployed young people and involves a full-time
commitment to the environment with payment at the rate of the
national training wage.[14]
While there were certainly differences between the two programs,
arguably, the point that the Green Corps program was comprised of
volunteers only and not confined to unemployed young people was not
a significant distinction. In reality, most Green Corps
participants would have been unemployed prior to commencing the
program.[15] These
participants are likely to have been attracted to the program, in
part, because they would not have had to satisfy mutual obligations
requirements while receiving a training allowance.
Some commentators, including Sharan Burrow of the Australian
Council of Trade Unions, have welcomed the Government s green jobs
plan as providing support for young Australians hit hard by the
economic slowdown.[16] Others, such as Heather Ridout of the Australian
Industry Group, have argued that the plan will help to tackle the
deficit in Australia s national green skills capability.[17] Tony Mohr of the
Australian Conservation Foundation has similarly approved of the
focus on green jobs.[18] However, in the case of the National Green Jobs Corps
initiative, it is by no means clear that the work experience and
training provided will result in participants gaining employment in
(green) jobs.
Indeed, some have questioned just what the designation green
jobs actually means.[19] For example, Leon Gettler has used the UN environment
program s definition of green jobs to illustrate how broad the
category is, and to question just how many supposedly green jobs
actually contribute to environmental sustainability as well as to
the economy.[20]
While Gettler does not doubt that the green economy will create
industries, jobs and investment opportunities, he does query how
many real green jobs are actually out there. And, in the
absence of guaranteed real green jobs, Gettler poses the question:
Is the Green Jobs Corps a Work for the Dole scheme in
disguise?[21]
Some environmental and training groups that are likely to take
part in the National Green Jobs Corps program have claimed that the
program s proposed funding structure creates a disincentive for
agencies to help program participants to find paid employment.
Under the draft program rules, participating agencies will receive
payments at the commencement, half-way and completion points of a
project, based on the number of participants involved in the
project. Thus, should participants leave the project to take up
paid employment and not be replaced, training providers will lose
funding.[22]
It is worth noting that one commentator, at least, has proposed
means of getting around this problem. It is reported that Greening
Australia s South Australian chief executive, Mark Anderson has
suggested that employment agencies could creatively structure
programs, including taking on a series of teams of trainees, to
avoid losing funding when participants find paid work, and take on
larger projects that will require more than 26 weeks to complete.
[23]
Despite the relatively small number of training places in the
program over two years, Jobs Australia chief executive, David
Thompson has indicated that it is by no means clear that the places
would lead to jobs. Without additional funding for places and jobs,
Thompson is also reported as having suggested that the scheme could
become unviable.[24]
Some commentators have criticised the fortnightly training
supplement to be provided to National Green Jobs Corps program
participants as being insufficient. According to Environmental
Training and Employment general manager Greg Bird, the supplement,
when combined with participants income support payments, is less
than the amount that participants received under the previous Green
Corps program.[25]
Without a stronger financial incentive for young unemployed people,
Job Futures chief executive Lisa Fowkes has argued that it would be
difficult to motivate them to participate in the program. If the
program is not to resemble Work for the Dole, Fowkes maintains that
participants efforts need to be properly remunerated: one of the
marks of whether society values what you do is if you are paid for
your work .[26]
The National Green Jobs Corps program supplement amount is
consistent with other like training supplements, but double the
Work for the Dole supplement of $20.80.
According to the Explanatory Memorandum, the National Green Jobs
Corps supplement will cost $3.4 million over the period 2009 to
2012, with costs to Centrelink yet to be agreed.[27]
Amendments to the Social Security
Act 1991
Item 1 inserts a definition of the National
Green Jobs Corps program into subsection 23(1) and Item
2 inserts a definition of the National Green Jobs Corps
supplement into the same subsection.
Item 3 inserts a new
paragraph, 23(4AA)(ab), the effect of
which is that for the purposes of determining whether the National
Green Jobs Corps supplement remains payable, a person will be taken
to receive income support for a given period after that payment or
allowance ceases as a result of an increase in the participant s or
their partner s income. This is consistent with the treatment of
other supplements under the Act.[28]
Item 4 inserts a new section,
503C, which provides for a person at least 17 and
under 25 years of age in receipt of a parenting payment to receive
the National Green Jobs Corps supplement on a fortnightly basis, so
long as they are participating in the program. However, new
paragraph 503C(3)(a) specifies that a person will
not be paid the supplement for a fortnight during which they are
supposed to be participating in the National Green Jobs Corps
program as a part of their Parenting Payment Employment Pathway
Plan, but cease to participate in the program in circumstances that
amount to a failure to comply with the plan. New
paragraph 503C(3)(b) provides that where a person
qualifies for receipt of both the National Green Jobs Corps
supplement and another training supplement in a given fortnight,
only the training supplement will be paid.
Item 5 inserts a new
subsection, 541(1C), which provides that
a person satisfies the Youth Allowance activity test for a given
period if they participate in the National Green Jobs Corps program
throughout that period.
Item 6 inserts a new section,
556B, which provides for a person at least 17
years of age who is in receipt of Youth Allowance (pursuant to
section 540 of the Act) and not studying full-time to receive the
National Green Jobs Corps supplement on a fortnightly basis, so
long as they are participating in the program. The person is not to
be paid the supplement under this section if they are over the age
of 21 years, and thus no longer qualify for Youth Allowance.
New subsection 556B(2) provides for a person who
is a participant in the National Green Jobs Corps program and in
receipt of Youth Allowance to receive the National Green Jobs Corps
supplement on a fortnightly basis, so long as they are
participating in the program. New subsection
556B(3) states that a person will not be paid the
supplement for a fortnight during which they are supposed to be
participating in the National Green Jobs Corps program as a part of
their Youth Allowance Employment Pathway Plan, but fail to
participate in the program in circumstances that amount to a
failure to comply with the plan.
Item 7 inserts a new
sub-section, 601(4D), which provides that
a person also satisfies the Newstart activity test for a given
period if they participate in the National Green Jobs Corps program
throughout that period.
Item 9 inserts a new section,
645, which provides for a person under the age of
25 years and in receipt of Newstart Allowance to receive the
National Green Jobs Corps supplement on a fortnightly basis, so
long as they are participating in the program. The person is not to
be paid the supplement under this section if they have yet to reach
21 years of age, and thus do not qualify for Newstart Allowance.
New paragraph 645(3)(a) provides that a person
will not be paid the supplement for a fortnight during which they
are supposed to be participating in the National Green Jobs Corps
program as a part of their Newstart Allowance Employment Pathway
Plan, but fail to participate in the program in circumstances that
amount to a failure to comply with the plan. New paragraph
645(3)(b) provides that where a person qualifies for
receipt of both the National Green Jobs Corps supplement and
another training supplement in a given fortnight, only the training
supplement will be paid.
Under items 10 and 11, where a
person is entitled to the National Green Jobs Corps supplement and
a language, literacy and numeracy or CDEP scheme participant
supplement, respectively, in the same fortnight, only the National
Green Jobs Corps supplement is payable.
Items 12 and 13 provide that
where a person receives a National Green Jobs Corps supplement to
which they are not entitled, this amount becomes a debt that must
be paid to the Commonwealth.
The Bill will provide, over a two year period, regular
additional financial support to National Green Jobs Corps program
participants. It is not clear, however, that the supplement will
offer sufficient incentive to entice many would-be participants
into the program. And, in the absence of sufficient numbers of
program participants, concerns have been expressed that the program
may not be viable for participating employment and training
agencies. Further, this situation could be exacerbated by the
program s proposed funding formula, which has been described by
some as problematic, given that agencies stand to lose funding
where program participants find paid work. Questions have also been
raised as to the number of relevant green jobs that are available,
and thus whether or not the training and experience to be provided
to those who do participate in the National Green Jobs
Corps program will prove worthwhile in terms of employment
outcomes.
Copyright Commonwealth of Australia
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information from the Parliamentary Library on (02) 6277 2505.
Matthew Thomas
20 October
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Library
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