Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Willow-Jean Prime: Labour's Employment Spokesperson on the latest Jobseeker benefit stats

Transcript

Willow-Jean Prime: Labour's Employment Spokesperson on the latest Jobseeker benefit stats · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The number of beneficiaries on jobs seeker went up a
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: percent over the last quarter. Two hundred and eighteen thousand
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: people right now are receiving a benefit because they can't
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: find a job. The target by this government is one
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: hundred and forty thousand that needs to happen by twenty thirty.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Government reckons eighty six thousand people found work and stop
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: their benefit in the year to June, up six thousand
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: on the previous year. However, clearly there have been more
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: people going on as well. Labor left office with about
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: one hundred and ninety thousand on this Willow gen Prime
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: is a Labour's Social Development employment spokesperson Willow Gene.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Bryan.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: What do you put that down to the fact that
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: people more people are going on the benefit?
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: I put that down to the failed promise of Christopher
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Luxen to improve the cost of living, to fix the economy,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: and their promise of reducing doccer beneficiaries down by fifty thousand.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: What we have seen international is an increase by almost
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: more than twenty eight thousand. Moving onto job seeker support
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: the economy.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Isn't it like if you don't fix there because you
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: don't have a good economy, there aren't the jobs people,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: then they won't be able to go and get the jobs.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: That's right. And Christopher Luxen, when you're coming into government,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: promised that he would fix the economy. But instead what
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: we've seen is more go onto job seeker benefit and
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: also unemployment. Our numbers are higher under dis government. We've
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: seen this government make investment decisions into the wrong things
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: like tobacco companies and landlords, and the cut and the
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: laid infrastructure projects which in building and construction led to
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: a loss of twenty thousand jobs in that sector alone.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Some of the projects were done, though, what about So
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, you've agreed it's the economy. So if labor
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: was in government, are you saying that we would have
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: more economic growth than we currently have and therefore there
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: would be more jobs.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: So labor is committed to a long term investment and infrastructure,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: making sure that we are building the road the hospitals
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: that we need.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: But what I'm asking, because you said it's national's fault,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: because if it's nationals and government and we don't have
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: the economy to support the jobs, so are you saying
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: if labor was in power right now, we would have
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: more growth than we are currently experiencing.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: So what we're dealing with is what the government promised
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: they would deliver and the fact we don't know through
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: this report.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: You said that, But what I'm asking you is if
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: we had voted for you, would it be different.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: So if well that, the fact is that that didn't happen,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: and we have the government making a promise and then
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: failing to deliver on their promise. What Labor is saying
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: coming into this election is that we will do things
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: like we will expand the apprenticeship boost out to two
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: years and to more areas in the trades, and that
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: will create real pathways to employment, to qualifications and wages
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: for people.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Do you know what growth was for the March quarter.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: I don't have that figure on me, but what I
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: know is that the job seeker numbers grew. Do you
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: know what it was for the last three thousand and three?
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: So the job seeker numbers grew by three thousand to
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: March nine thousand, this time last twenty eight thousand under
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: this government.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: You know what growth was for the year, even I.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Don't have that for grummy Ryan, do you yeah? I do?
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: It was one and a half percent to March, which
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: is the most recent number we got. Of course, we
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: don't get Jones until September. But the point is you've
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: come on here and you've told me that all of
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: those problems you're outlining about jobs to do with the economy. However,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: you don't know how much the economy is growing by
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: or whether you were doing better.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Dis government, which dis government
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Ryan promised that they would fix. And what I am
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: hearing and what I am seeing is that our communities
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: are in a world of pain. This week we had
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: in Kataya, for example, one of the two announcing that
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: it will be closing. I stood with those families. They
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: are worried about those closures, the loss of jobs, the
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: impact of that on their families, and the fact that
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: there aren't more jobs for them to go into. What
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: they are facing is the real possibility of having to
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: go to Australia, like record numbers of New Zealand having
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: to do totally discoveryment.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Totally agree with you. It's awful and you're right. They
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: have broken and promise. They said they would get more
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: people off of the benefit. They haven't. It's gone the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: other way.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live
• 4:33
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• 4:37
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