Shanks Katrina: Social Security Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Shanks Katrina: Social Security Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:639;Page:9252] 
KATRINA SHANKS (National) 
: 
 I rise to speak in the Committee stage to Part 2 of the Social Security Amendment Bill. Parts of the bill were showing promise that it was moving towards a “work first” mentality. Let me highlight a part of the bill that makes interesting reading—the sanctions part. It is clear that when people fail to meet requirements without good reason a sanction will be imposed. However “activity in the community” is exempt from the sanction. For those who do not understand what “activity in the community” means let me explain. The definition in clause 4 states: “activity in the community means an activity associated with a community project under the supervision of a sponsor who is contracted by the chief executive to provide the activity”. 
The National Party is disappointed with subsequent changes to the bill that remove the requirement for a person to undertake “activity in the community” from sanction provisions. In our opinion these changes will lessen the ability of the bill to remove barriers to employment. We believe that the requirement on a person in his or her personal development and employment plan should have to be fulfilled regardless of the source of that activity. The consequence of not meeting the requirement of his or her personal development and employment plan provisions in regard to undertaking “activity in the community” cannot be sanctioned. 
The National Party is pleased that beneficiaries will be expected to engage in activities such as training to prepare them for work but we are disappointed that the opportunity has not been taken to enable part-time non-commercial work to gain work experience. We are concerned that some beneficiaries who engage in a number of training courses without work experience will find employment opportunities closed to them. We believe that people who work in the community have a lot to offer the community they work in. We believe they have valuable skills good work ethics and the ability to offer good work experience. In not recognising this workforce which can contribute to the training and transfer of skills we are not doing that workforce any justice. We are not even recognising them. 
Many of the people who work in the community have come from professional backgrounds—backgrounds of relevance to the sector that they are working in. They are highly skilled and they bring a lot of skills that they transfer quite easily. They are invaluable to the organisation that they work in and they can easily pass on these things to others. We are talking about caregivers administration clerks event organisers people with information technology skills people with good communication skills social workers—a huge number of people. 
This legislation is closing a door to employment opportunities. In fact the National Party felt so strongly about this that it submitted a minority view which I will share with members. It was not only our view; three other parties on the Social Services Committee also attached minority reports based on “activity in the community”. “While generally agreeing with the stated purpose and aims of the bill the National and ACT parties are disappointed with subsequent changes to the bill that remove the requirement for a person to undertake ‘activity in the community’ from sanction provisions. In our opinion these changes will lessen the ability of the bill to remove barriers to employment. We believe that the requirements of a person in their personal development and employment plan should have to be fulfilled regardless of the source of that activity. The consequence of not meeting the requirements of his or her personal development and employment plan provisions in regard to undertaking ‘activity in the community’ could be sanctioned. The National and ACT parties are pleased that beneficiaries will be expected to engage in activities such as training to prepare them for work but are disappointed that the opportunity has not been taken to enable part-time non-commercial work to gain work experience. We are concerned that some beneficiaries might engage in a number of training courses but without work experience will find employment opportunity closed to them.” Thank you very much.