Opposition gets its facts wrong
Mark Arbib
posted Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Minister for Employment Participation Mark Arbib today urged the Opposition to get its facts straight before issuing media releases.
The Liberal Party yesterday issued a media release stating the Government had “watered down” its requirements for people on income support.
The Liberals claimed there had been “a decline in the number of Newstart Allowance recipients with participation obligations” from December 2005 to December 2009.
“Unfortunately the Liberal Party got its facts totally wrong,” Senator Arbib said.
“Shadow Minister for Employment Participation Senator Cormann counted job seekers who were in fact undertaking participation obligations as though they were not and he used figures from November 2005 and represented them as December figures.
“In fact, there has been an increase. The proportion of Newstart Allowance recipients with participation obligations rose slightly from 82.3 per cent in December 2005 to 83.6 per cent in December 2009.
“The Rudd Government remains firmly committed to mutual obligation and a strong system of participation requirements for people on income support.
“The Liberals' claims have no basis and show how out of touch they are with what is really happening.”
Senator Arbib said the Government’s focus was on getting people jobs and providing training, work experience and work for the dole to help jobseekers get and keep a job.
“The Government's response through the new Job Services Australia is getting results,” he said.
“During the first six months of Job Services Australia 162,000 people found jobs, compared to 136,900 under the first six months of the Howard Government’s Job Network (July to Dec 2003) – an 18% increase.
“The better performance of Job Services Australia is more significant as it occurred during more difficult circumstances with the global recession.”
Tags: Employment, Liberals, Unemployment