Press Conference, Bendigo

LISA CHESTERS, FEDERAL MEMBER FOR BENDIGO: Good afternoon, I’m Lisa Chesters, the very proud Federal Member for Bendigo, and it’s great to be here today at AXIS Employment, who are hosting a very good friend of mine, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Honourable Amanda Rishworth. We are here today because we have heard over and over anecdotally employers have jobs and they are looking for the right people to come work for them. We've also heard from local people looking for work, and sometimes there's a mismatch with skills. Or I'm trying to match the right people to the right job and the right organisation, and that's where services like AXIS Employment come in. 

And today, we've been talking to some of the successful participants, people who've been placed by AXIS into great jobs, great jobs here locally, and we're going to hear from some of them today. So, this is our Government, a Federal Labor Government, working to find those local solutions, connecting local people to local jobs through local organisations who have those relationships. I'll now hand over to the Minister to say a few words about our agenda at the Federal level and how we're working with local people to do that work.

AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Well, thank you very much, Lisa, and it is wonderful to be here in Bendigo. I have to say there is no better advocate for Bendigo and the surrounding areas than the local member, Lisa Chesters, and so it's wonderful to join her, and along with a whole lot of different actors that play such an important role. We've got a participant in Transition to Work. We've got AXIS Employment, the provider of Transition to Work, and indeed people from the local council that provide the job opportunities for people looking for work. 

Of course, Transition to Work is a really bespoke program that is designed for young people particularly, 15 to 24-year-olds, because we know that a one-size-fits-all approach to supporting people into employment is not going to be the answer. I spoke this morning at the National Employment Services Conference where I sent a very clear message. We need an employment service system that is responsive to individuals' needs, that it meets people where they are, that is person-centred and can support them, whether that is an affiliate skills gap that gets them back the labour market or wraparound support that helps them on that journey. And of course, Transition to Work is one way that we're looking at how we better tailor our services. 

Now, here at AXIS Employment in Bendigo is a great news story. AXIS Employment is the best performing Transition to Work provider in the Wimmera Mallee employment region and the third best across the country. So, you have here in this local region a top performer, and what does that look like? Well, very high placement of participants into work, both at the 12-week and the 26-week mark. Over the last three years, AXIS Employment has been able to place 605 young people into work just here in the Bendigo employment region and 940 in the adjacent Wimmera Mallee region. That is a good success, because we know if these young people don't get on a pathway to training and employment, then they could face a lifetime of unemployment. 

For those that are not engaged in work or training or education between the ages of 15 and 24, we know they are more likely to face long-term unemployment, and that's not good for anyone. That's not good for the region and it's not good for the country. But of course, what's important about AXIS Employment is they're finding jobs for young people here in the local area, and the types of jobs are diverse. Whether that's retail, whether that's in cafes, whether that's in a pathway traineeship in IT or in the field of medical reception. Whatever the field across the economy, there are great opportunities that we're seeing young people take that pathway in. Of course, Transition to Work also really focuses on connecting people with those employment opportunities, and so I know there is also a very good relationship between AXIS Employment and of course Bendigo TAFE and other education providers. 

So, this is a local good news story where AXIS Employment is really working with, for example, the Council of Bendigo to provide that opportunity, get individuals on the right pathway, particularly young people, their employment pathway of what they want to do, but importantly, that's good for the broader economy. It's my great pleasure now to hand over to Colin from AXIS Employment to speak a little bit about what they're doing to make this all a reality.

COLIN BARNETT, AXIS EMPLOYMENT: Thanks, Minister. The Australian Government has trusted AXIS Employment to deliver the Transition to Work program since 2016, starting in the Wimmera Mallee region. And good on the Government. They've listened and made positive changes to the program over that time. So that's a really good thing. And I think the future, we'll wait and see where the future goes, but it's such a successful program and we're very happy to be part of that. We like the Transition to Work program. It's great. It's a great program. It works really well for our young people that we work with. 

Without compliance, it allows them time to engage. It allows us time to build relationships and trust with the young person, to understand their skill requirements, to help develop those skills, and eventually get them into employment. And the results show that we've been very successful with that, and that’s fantastic. The real heroes in all of this are the young people that end up working. And while they don't realise it at the moment, this first job that they get and we help them get could well be their employment pathway for the next 40 years. So this is about setting people up, helping them achieve their employment goals, and setting them up for the future. 

So very happy to be part of the Transition to Work program and supporting all these young people with their successes.

JAYMEE REMNANT, IT TRAINEE: Hello. I'm Jaymee, and I am an IT trainee up at the City of Greater Bendigo. I started in February, and I got help from both CVGT and AXIS to basically start working. It's been really helpful. They check in with me often. They helped me get set up so I could have an easy beginning. And yeah, it was really helpful just to have that support for my first big job basically. Thank you.

GREG HARRIS, CITY OF GREATER BENDIGO: My name’s Greg, I’m from the City of Greater Bendigo. We fully support the Transition to Work Program. It makes a difference in young people’s lives, and the best part from where we sit, we can see the difference that makes. We have supported other programs too. We started the traineeship and apprenticeship program in 2018 where we had one apprentice, one apprentice mechanic. 

And as of last week, the city has employed 76 trainees and apprentices, and the city has about 15 trainees or apprentices at any one time. So, the youth of Bendigo is in a good spot with the city, and as I’ve said, we’re fully supportive of helping youth in our town. Thank you.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Okay. before we get to other questions on another topic, does anyone have any questions on this issue?

JOURNALIST: Yeah, I might ask a few. Jaymee, can I ask, how old are you, and I guess, what jobs did you have before coming to AXIS, or were you struggling with the employment market or finding a job?

JAYMEE REMNANT: I’m 19, and I was mainly working retail before this. I worked at a supermarket and then at Spotlight, and I just really wanted to go into something other than retail, and IT’s been a part of my family, so definitely getting the help to get into this was really helpful, yeah.

JOURNALIST: And when you came into AXIS, was it to see if you needed to further educate yourself, or was it to straight away try and get into a pathway into a career in IT?

JAYMEE REMNANT: I came to AXIS for mainly support to getting into the traineeship. I found it myself, and then I needed a bit more support with getting everything set up and making sure it was a smooth transition.

JOURNALIST: And I guess from here, is it a traineeship and then are you looking to stay employed with council? Or what’s the future life?

JAYMEE REMNANT: I’m hoping at the end of this traineeship that they will let me continue doing my training, hopefully get another certificate and make sure that I’m fully prepared.

JOURNALIST: Perfect. Thank you. Is there any stats about how many people Access has helped here as part of the program?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, I've got the last three years. So, in terms of job placements, it's 605 job placements in the last three years of young people. That's in the Bendigo employment region. It's 940 job placements, as I understand it, in the Wimmera Mallee region. But of course, they are job placements. That's not the only thing that Transition to Work providers do. And what's really important is the pre-vocational steps that someone might take. Just hearing before, it might be getting your licence so you can drive to that job or it might be engaging in TAFE before you take on that plunge of a full-time job. 

So, it is very varied and very specific to the needs of the person. For others it might be right away, straight away, disengaged from school, straight away want to go and earn some money.

JOURNALIST: So there are public registers for banned teachers and doctors. The ABC reports today that hundreds of childcare workers are banned around the country, but parents are being kept in the dark as to who they are. Should banned childcare workers be named?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, firstly, I would say a couple of things. Our Government, along with collectively state and territory governments have been working very hard to put protections in place in our early childhood education services, we've passed legislation that has made sure that providers that are not up to scratch, will not get public funding. Of course, part of that is making sure that parents get access to information if for example there are concerns or breaches with the centre then they are now available on Starting Blocks, the Government's website, and soon will be made available to parents at the centres themselves. So we are increasing the information being provided to parents about any breaches that the service may face. 

In addition to that, of course, we are working with states and territories around a national register of early childhood educators. And importantly, part of that work will involve law changes of the national law that allows the regulator to exchange information with services. But what I think we want to be really clear is the reason why we're looking at the register, the reason why we are having an exchange of information is to stop these people working in centres in the first place. That is the critical point here. We don't want bad actors in our early childhood education centres, and that's what all our effort is about, along with making sure that centres that are not up to scratch do not get public money and importantly parents have information when their centre might not be up to scratch.

JOURNALIST: Just going back a step though, if there was a register that was to publicly name them, the ABC has reported that one banned childcare worker didn't even know he was banned because the paperwork was sent to the wrong email address. Do you think that's good enough?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, of course we've always got to make sure that we are looking at having the strongest possible protections in place. What I would say this is a collective effort with states, territories and the Commonwealth. And what we're doing as we build the National Register of Early Childhood Educators is making sure as part of that, that information that the regulator holds can be passed on to providers. 

That is critically important. That work is underway and I know collectively Minister Clare, Minister Walsh, and across the states and territories are working very closely to build this and put the strongest protections in place.

JOURNALIST: What about a national Working With Children Check? How far off is that?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look, Minister Rowland, the Attorney-General is working very hard on the Working for Children’s check, and it's understood that the first stage of that is likely to be completed by the end of the year. That is where there might be a negative rejection of a Working for Children’s check, that then it will be able to be communicated across jurisdictions. So, I know that all ministers are working very closely on that, and this is collective work that everyone is committed to do.

JOURNALIST: And just lastly, you've touched on it already, but do you want to elaborate any further on where the Federal Government's at in setting up the national register of childcare workers?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: As I said, Minister Clare and Minister Walsh are working very closely with their state counterparts because, of course, the challenge here is that jurisdictions, state jurisdictions, have a huge amount of responsibility in the regulation of early education and care along with the Commonwealth. My understanding is that testing of that national register is looking at happening by the end of the year with it being in operation in the first quarter next year.