<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="MS Exchange Server version 6.0.6618.4">
<TITLE>[resnc] Labor backbencher attacks youth on Newstart</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY dir=ltr>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Learn or earn plan for young people<BR>Patricia Karvelas (The
Australian)<BR>November 02, 2006<BR>YOUNG people who drop out of school and stay
at home "twiddling their thumbs on PlayStation or Xbox" would be kicked off the
dole after six months if they did not return to study or training under a reform
plan from Labor<BR>backbencher Craig Emerson.<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>The radical policy to be released today aims to prevent the
formation of a permanent underclass in Australia that cannot find a job even in
a boom.<BR><BR>Dr Emerson, who last month called for school to be compulsory
until Year 12, will use new research to identify the problem group in the
community at risk of becoming unemployable.<BR><BR>More than half those of
working age who failed to finish Year 10 are out of work - despite the economy
achieving a generation-low unemployment rate of 4.8 per cent - according to
official data commissioned by Dr Emerson.<BR><BR>"This is not about punishment,
it's about getting young people the education and skills needed for them to have
a prosperous future," Dr Emerson said. "This is a learn-or-earn program where
there is no third option of sitting<BR>around doing nothing."<BR><BR>His paper
will be presented to the economic and social outlook conference in Melbourne
this morning.<BR><BR>Co-hosted by The Melbourne Institute and The Australian,
the Making the Boom Pay conference will run for two days, with tonight's keynote
dinner address being delivered by Treasury Secretary Ken Henry. Opposition
Leader Kim<BR>Beazley will outline more of Labor's reform agenda in tomorrow's
main luncheon address.<BR><BR>The Emerson plan is likely to upset many of his
own Labor colleagues because it echoes the Fightback proposal of former Liberal
leader John Hewson to remove the dole for all recipients after nine
months.<BR><BR>Labor's workforce participation spokeswoman Penny Wong said she
supported the central idea behind "learning or earning", but would not go as far
as Dr Emerson. "People should work if they can, and young people should be
either<BR>learning or earning. Labor does not support time-limited social
security," Senator Wong said.<BR><BR>Dr Emerson argues that if a variety of
schools were funded - including "second chance" schools that help students not
academically inclined - there would be "no excuse and no justification for
leaving school early to sit at home on the dole".<BR><BR>"Australia cannot
afford to have up to 54,000 long-term unemployed young people neither working
nor studying to improve their skills," he will say today.<BR><BR>Dr Emerson says
that, in addition to working, studying or training, long-term unemployed young
people should be given the option of doing military or community
service.<BR><BR>"As an alternative to military service, a peace corp could be
established to help build community infrastructure in our Pacific island
neighbouring countries.<BR><BR>"When the range of alternatives that I am
advocating is put in place, the dole should not be available to unemployed young
people beyond six months. They would receive income support payments for
studying or training, but not<BR>for sitting at home, twiddling their thumbs on
PlayStation or Xbox".<BR><BR>Australian Council of Social Service director
Andrew Johnson attacked Dr Emerson's idea, saying such plans had failed in the
US. "Time-limited payments are both unfair and ineffective in helping
disadvantaged people get into education or work. In the US, one of the few
nations who cut off all payments after a time period, child poverty rates are
high and levels of youth employment participation are lower than here in
Australia," Mr Johnson said.<BR><BR>Dr Emerson says his research, which relies
on unpublished figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, rebuts John
Howard's claim that leaving school early is the best option for students not
academically inclined.<BR><BR>The ABS figures show that of those who finished
Year 10, more than one-third are unemployed.<BR><BR>More than 60 per cent of 15
to 24-year-olds who left school before finishing Year 10 are not
employed.<BR><BR>In the mining boom states of Western Australia and Queensland
only about half of boys from disadvantaged backgrounds are finishing high
school, while three-quarters of boys from more privileged backgrounds are doing
so.<BR><BR>In the Northern Territory, 13 per cent of boys and 18 per cent of
girls from disadvantaged backgrounds are finishing high
school.<BR><BR><BR><BR></DIV></FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>