Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Matt Hepworth spoke with Youth Worx Executive Office Liz Reid

Transcript

Matt Hepworth spoke with Youth Worx Executive Office Liz Reid · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The federal budget was handed down last week. It had
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: changes or policies that will affect almost every territory in
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: in one way or another. But what does it mean
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: for territory youth. Well, let's find out with Youth Works
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Executive Officer Liz Reid. Liz, Good morning, morning, Matt. How
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: are you very well? Thank you, Liz. There were some
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: pretty big announcements in the budget about employment incentives for youth.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Can you tell us a little bit about those and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: how it will affect some of our territory kids.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, i'd love to. Actually, the emphasis on jobs
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: and job creation was quite a delight for us. So
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: we run the Transition to Work Service, so that's for
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: young people fifteen to twenty four in the Darwin, Palmerston
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: and Casharina area. So for TTW, there's some really big
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: ticket items for us. So as of the first of
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: January next year, young people who leave school at year
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: twelve can pretty much we'll access our service a straight
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: away rather than having to have a thirteen week waiting period.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: So on the fourth of January we expect to see
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: a whole heap of school leaders knocking on our doors.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: So that's great. Some of the other items was the
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: wage subsidies for young people, and we welcome that is
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: for employers to put young people on. And the other
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: big ticket item for us was the investment into apprenticeships,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: so I think it was like one point two billion
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: to subsidize up to fifty percent of an apprentices wage.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: They really are some great announcements and I guess they've
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: all come off the back of the fact of this
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: global pandemic COVID nineteen, which we've been dealing with for
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the last six months now. How has that impacted use
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: and job hunting.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: It's been. I think we've been incredibly fortunate in the
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Northern Territory that our restrictions were eased a lot sooner
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: than some of the other states and territories. At Youth
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Works at the moment, we've got approximately three hundred and
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: eighty young people using our service, and we saw an
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: increase in May to bump those numbers up of about
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty. So there's quite a lot of
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: youth or there's high use unemployment, but there's also underemployment.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: So young people who were on casual wages were the
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: first ones to lose their position. And hence looking for
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: new job opportunities.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: And Liz, I imagine it would have been quite tough
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: for a lot of those young people within that age bracket,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: because a lot of those industries hit the hardest when
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: we went into to lockdown businesses like hospitality and retail
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and tourism. There are a lot of key industries that
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: our young Territorians are working in or seeking employment in.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a large number of young people who
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: because of COVID lost their positions in those exact industries,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: but we were able to pass way into other areas
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: of opportunities. So we saw an increase in young people
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: being employed in growth through Retail was a big one.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Warehousing and logistics was another area, and quite a number
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: of young people being employed in entry level roles at
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: trading roles in construction.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Did we see an increase in youth working from home?
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Like so many of us adapted to, you know, being
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: able to work from home pretty quickly. Were young people
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: within that bracket as well?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Well? Absolutely? Absolutely, yeah, Yeah, there were young people doing
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: that and I guess we're still doing.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: That, yeah, And it happened so quickly in a lot
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: of industries that perhaps people I guess didn't think that
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: it would be possible to work from home. I mean
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: we didn't have the strictest lockdowns in Australia, but there
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: were a lot of places that found innovative new ways
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: for Territorians to be able to work at home in
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: industries we perhaps didn't initially think of.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and not only that, but with some young people
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: utilizing services, I know at our end we did. We
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: were keeping young people engaged with the service the entire
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: time until we could come back to our face to
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: face appointment. So we were doing coaching sessions via messinger
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: or over the on the telephone, working interviews, social hour
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: just to bring young people together to get away from
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: the isolation. So people have been incredibly innovative.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Hayles. How are things now for our territory youth
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: compared to other studies and I know Melbourne are still
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: in some pretty hard lockdowns as you mentioned, We've been
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: pretty lucky that we reduced owns quicker. How are we
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: comparing to the rest of the nation.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: We're doing pretty well actually. So Youth Works is part
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: of a transition to work community practice. So we're one
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: of thirteen organizations across twelve regions and we constantly get
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: together and talk about the trends and what's happening and
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: how we can support young people and local employers. So
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: in terms of the territory, we're doing very well. Our
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: young people are amazing. They have the most incredible skills
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: and talent and are so eager to get into work
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: and do a good job.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: What's the mood like among young job seekers at the moment.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I mean, it must be an incredibly scary time if
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: you're in year twelve looking to enter the workforce in
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: the next few months, you know, knowing that it looks
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: a lot different to what it was for someone graduating
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: twelve months ago.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I mean our year twelve here is very
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: different to you twelve down south where they're starting to
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: go back to school. In some areas, our young ones
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: they're doing well. I know, we've been going out to
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: schools and engaging with school leaders to talk about what
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: the options post school. But I think that there's a
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: you know, I think they're ready for it, and soon
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: they're going to they'll have their exams, and I'm confident
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: at the schools and the teachers are preparing them for
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: the best plausible opportunities.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Liz, I've got an interesting text here on our mix,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: one of one nine text line. It says I run
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: a local business. It says you say there are two
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: hundred and twenty young youths unemployed. I've advertised for both
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: apprentice Diesel texts and part advisor trainee, but no young
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: local Darwin kids have applied. Can you speak into that
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: at all?
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Probably the young people that are coming to our service
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: haven't got the qualification to apply for those positions. But
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: I'm more than happy to talk to the employer if
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: they'd like to have a conversation, and maybe we do
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: have somebody within skill and talent that will be the
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: right person for the job.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Wonderful. Well, we appreciate that. Once we'll certainly see if
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: we can follow up with that text and see what
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: we can find out. Liz, Before you go, I want
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: to say, congratulations is in order I believe on your
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Order of Australia for your service to people with a disability,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: to youth and to social inclusion. Congratulations, thank you, thank you, Matt.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: It was a true privilege and honor.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: What was the ceremony, Like I hear it was at
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: a government house.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: Is that right, Yeah, it was. It was on the
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: eighteenth of September, and it was a beautiful, beautiful Friday
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: barmy evening and was surrounded by some incredible people who
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: constantly contribute and will continue to contribute to the community.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: So very very privileged and yeah, it was a great night.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Sounds like a very memorable night and one well deserved
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: as well. Liz Read, the Youth Works executive officer here
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory, Congratulations and thank you so much
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: for taking the time to chat to us this morning.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Thanks Matt had a great thanks. Leads you to