McClay Todd: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
McClay Todd: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
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TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 I thank the Minister in the chair the Minister for Social Development and Employment for a very good speech but more than that I thank her for her commitment over the last almost 3 years of looking at employment issues. In particular I thank her for the work this Government has done for young people who are not employed for finding ways to help them back towards the workforce and for helping them find the courage to put their heads up to go out and look at what is happening in the world and to seek skills so they can join the workforce. 
I will talk a lot more about what the Government has done over the last 3 years but also about our plans under this Budget and where we think we need to head with young people. Before I do that I must say I think it is a very concerning thing for all New Zealanders that the Opposition will not take a call on this issue. Opposition members will not take a call it seems on employment in New Zealand or on youth unemployment. I think they will be taking calls on many other things that are important to them but I do not think it is wise for us to guess what they are. 
Employment is a very important thing to all people in this Parliament. Youth unemployment is of particular importance to the Government and I know to the Minister. I challenge members of the Opposition to stand up take a call on this part of our debate and tell us about some of their policies moving forward to get young people into work. I guess if they do not take that call the public will decide that either it is not of importance to them or they do not have policies in those areas. 
Darien Fenton 
: What about your policies? What’s that party doing? It’s your responsibility at the moment—not for long. 
TODD McCLAY 
: The member opposite has asked me to talk about some of our policies. I have only 5 minutes and a huge amount of work has been done over the last 3 years as Minister Bennett has had a very focused approach to what we must do with young people in New Zealand. 
One of the reasons that we have had increased unemployment levels for young people in New Zealand is the recession. But rather than using that as an excuse as other parties would in this Parliament we have merely said that this is an opportunity for us to focus more on young people to bring greater skills to them and to look at some of the reasons why in many parts of New Zealand youth unemployment has been much higher than it should be. 
Certainly in the Bay of Plenty youth unemployment has been higher than any of us would want for very many years under a number of Governments. Why would this be? It would be in part because of a lack of education and a lack of direction and because the previous Government over 9 years said it was all right for young people to sit on an unemployment benefit. They put some fuzzy things around them and said it was OK to leave them there for a period of time. 
In my electorate of Rotorua last year I had the opportunity to welcome back the first group of young people who went on the Limited Service Volunteers scheme. I invited them to my electorate office and we had a small morning tea. I wanted to hear from them about whether they thought it was a good programme. What I saw and what I learnt was quite remarkable. Young people who had not done well at school who did not have a lot of confidence who probably would not look somebody in the eye who were not well placed to get out into the workforce and who would have otherwise languished on a benefit for far too long went off and spent 6 or 8 weeks away on the Limited Service Volunteers scheme. They came back with a positive attitude and with a plan. I met a young man— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: A total failure. 
TODD McCLAY 
: The member opposite says “a total failure”. A total failure I say to the member opposite is leaving young people to languish on the unemployment benefit and saying that that is good enough for them. 
I met a young man who did not have much going for him. When he came back to Rotorua he stood up straight and told me that he actually wants a job now. He enjoyed it. He enjoyed the time that he had spent there. I saw him a few months later and he was out in the workforce. It was not full-time work but that young man would not have had the confidence to find work otherwise. I congratulate the Minister in the chair the Minister for Social Development and Employment not only on what we have done over the last year but also on the extra money and extra places for 1500 young people a year to go on the Limited Service Volunteers scheme. 
Kawerau is a great example of a place that we have heard a lot about on the TV screens of late. Can I say to the people of Kawerau that I know they are very proud of their town. I met another young man who went out on the Limited Service Volunteers scheme. That town had to work quite hard to get that person on that scheme and his life has in part turned round. But it is not enough for us to just let young people go through a scheme say that that is good and then put them back where they were. This Government has a lot more support around that.