LNP’S TWISTED PRIORITIES CREATE YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT SCANDAL

Media Release

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk says the Newman LNP Government’s twisted priorities have seen it waste $41 million on a misleading advertising campaign and consultants working on its asset sales plans while doing nothing for young Queenslanders seeking jobs.
In Cairns today Ms Palaszczuk said the Newman Government had failed job seekers especially the 64,000 Queenslanders aged 15 to 24 seeking jobs.
“By contrast Labor has already released a number of major policies aimed at tackling unemployment across our state,” she said.
“The Newman LNP Government cut Labor’s hugely successful Skilling Queenslanders for Work program even though an independent analysis showed it put people into jobs and returned around $8.00 to the community for every $1.00 it cost to operate.
“Cutting this program was a prime example of the Newman Government’s twisted priorities, especially when I am advised the LNP has so far wasted $41 million on advertising and consultants to push its destructive asset sales agenda.
“If that figure is not accurate, the Premier should say exactly how much his ‘Strong Choices’ campaign has so far cost taxpayers.”
Ms Palaszczuk said the LNP wasted taxpayers’ funds on misleading and highly political asset sales ads and consultants while doing nothing to create jobs especially in regional Queensland.
“The current youth jobless rate of 21.3% for Cairns is a scandal, and is 10.3% higher than when Labor was in office,” she said.
“There is a human face behind every jobless statistic and the youth jobless rate for Cairns means 4,000 young people in the region are looking for jobs which the Newman Government promised them.
“Across the state the youth jobless rate is 14.1% which is 2.2% higher than under Labor and represents 64,000 young people.
“This failure belongs to the Premier who promised before the last election that he had a plan for a statewide jobless rate of 4% but we have never seen any such plan.”
Ms Palaszczuk said the collapse of Skytrans as a result of Newman Government decisions would aggravate the region’s unemployment problem.
“When the Newman Government approved the stripping of regional air service contracts from Skytrans and gave them to a NSW airline, the local company shed around 120 jobs.
“At the time of its collapse last week the region lost another 60 jobs.
“Those jobs are gone forever and that means young people aspiring to a career in the aviation sector have less chance of finding work in FNQ.
“Campbell Newman said before the 2012 election he had a plan to boost our state and regional economies without the need for asset sales.
“Now after three years of doing nothing to create jobs all he can offer is asset sales even though they will actually cost jobs and push up power bills, squeezing Queenslanders even harder.
“Asset sales also mean the loss of $2 billion a year from the State Budget and that means even more LNP job cuts and cuts to frontline services.
"But behind the statistics are people without the jobs the LNP promised, and households finding it hard to battle the cost of living the LNP said it would lower."
Ms Palaszczuk said Labor had already released a string of other policies focused on jobs to benefit young Queenslanders:

• restoring the Skilling Queenslanders for Work program
• establishing Jobs Queensland to secure industry advice on skills needed in the labour market
• its Advance Queensland policy to plan for the jobs of the future by focussing on innovation and local technological and scientific skills
• Ready for Work to help young people enter the labour market by partnering with P&C groups to deliver programs such as CV writing and improve literacy levels, and
• providing a 25% payroll tax rebate for apprentices to encourage employers to hire young people.

“We will be releasing more initiatives as part of our comprehensive jobs policy during this election campaign,” she said.