With the opening of the 45th Parliament approaching, I was fortunate to be in Canberra last week to meet with newly elected MPs as they undertook a two day seminar outlining their roles and responsibilities.
Thirty-nine newly elected Coalition, Labor and Independent MPs will take their seats in the House of Representatives when the House opens on Tuesday 30th August.
Among the new members are four MPs who will sit in the Nationals party room including Andrew Gee (Calare) and David Littleproud (Maranoa) whose electorates share boundaries with Parkes.
Llew O’Brien (Wide Bay) and Damian Drum (Murray) will also join The Nationals team.
As The Nationals Chief Whip I joined with the Chief Government Whip and the Chief Opposition Whip welcoming our new colleagues to Parliament House and providing them with advice on negotiating the many and varied aspects of being a politician.
And while being in Canberra is only a minute part of life as an MP, it is nonetheless important to understand the work as a Member of the House in parliamentary proceedings.
I often explain to people from all corners of the Parkes electorate that a common perception of Parliament is derived from watching Question Time.
However Question Time is only a small piece, a bit over an hour a day, of lengthy days filled with meetings, other chamber proceedings, speaking on bills, media commitments and working to obtain outcomes for the whole of my electorate.
The opening of the 45th Parliament on 30th August will begin with a “Welcome to Country” ceremony by local Indigenous people before The Proclamation summoning Parliament is read. Ceremonial proceedings will then continue in both chambers of Parliament, the House of Representatives and the Senate, culminating in a speech from the Governor-General and a 19 gun salute.
I look forward to the commencement of the 45th Parliament and working collaboratively with all representatives of Government to achieve for my electorate.
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Congratulations to the Minister for Employment, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, on the release of a consultation paper on the first stage of implementing the Youth Jobs PaTH (Prepare-Trial-Hire) initiative.
As Minister Cash said the PaTH programme is about getting young Australians ready, giving them a go, and getting them into a job.
The Coalition is determined that younger generations are not confined to a lifetime of welfare dependency however the first step must be to ensure that they have the basic skills required to enter the workforce.
The Department of Employment is inviting submissions from interested business and stakeholders about their views on the first stage of PaTH – the Prepare stage – which will train young unemployed people in the skills that, based on all the evidence, we know they need.
Regular feedback from employers and industry is loud and clear – young people need to improve their ‘soft’ skills, such as having a positive attitude to work, being motivated and reliable, and having good personal presentation.
The training we will offer through PaTH will be designed to fill this gap. It will give young people a better understanding of what employers expect of them in the workplace as well as offering industry specific training which will teach them the skills and behaviours they need to be successful in a job.”
From April 2017, job seekers registered with jobactive aged under 25 will receive employability skills training which is industry endorsed and evidence-based to give them a competitive edge in the labour market.
Submissions to the consultation paper will be considered by the Department of Employment and in the coming months the Department will conduct a competitive process to select the training providers.
Youth Jobs PaTH is at the core of the Government’s Youth Employment Package announced in the 2016-17 Budget.
To read the consultation paper and find out how to make a submission visit: http://www.employment.gov.au/youth-jobs-path
