Aust, unions agree no dole for youth

Press, 15 October 1986, Page 15

Aust, unions agree no dole for youth

NZPA-AAP Sydney The Australian Council on Trade Unions has reportedly endorsed a radical youth policy that could spell an end to unemployment benefits to youths aged 15 to 19. The “National Times On Sunday” newspaper said the policy was based on the premise that young people should not get the dole unless they were engaged in work, training or education.

“The policy, which could become part of the new wages accord being thrashed out with the Hawke Government, recommends that over the next five years income support for 15 to 19-year-olds be tied to school, job or training programmes, said the newspaper’s front page lead article. It quoted the A.C.T.U.’S

assistant secretary, Mr Gary Weaven, as saying the policy envisaged nd dole for those aged 15 to 19. “Instead of paying someone an amount of money to do nothing, you would have a situation where income maintenance is paid to people usefully employed in one of three vocational streams,” Mr Weaven was quoted as saying. He emphasised that the work and training programmes must be real attempts to prepare young people for the labour market and improve the skills of Australian society. The newspaper said the youth policy was one of several controversial proposals which the A.C.T.U. would use to seek tradeoffs with the Government for abandoning wage in-

dexation and accepting another cut in real wages. In his address to the nation in June, the Australian Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, said he strongly believed young people should work for the dole. The newspaper said the trade union movement had called on the Government to develop a fiveyear programme for the scheme. The A.C.T.U. also reportedly favoured Government funding of the scheme, which could prove expensive and difficult to administer. The A.C.T.U. would push for a 1 per cent levy on imports and a requirement that superannuation funds contribute up to 20 per cent of future income to a national development fund to boost investment in export industries, the newspaper said.