Coalition to establish Voluntary Youth Corps

20/08/10

The Coalition will take real action to address the key economic and social challenge of addressing youth unemployment.

While unemployment can be devastating at any age, for the young it can have particularly adverse consequences, fundamentally undermining the development of key life skills and characteristics such as self-belief, resilience, self-discipline and a strong work ethic. 

Unemployment among Australians aged 15-19 years is now 24.3 percent, almost five times the unemployment rate for all Australians. 

The Coalition believes real action is required to address the core social problem of youth unemployment and to help young Australians escape the malaise of welfare dependence and aimlessness.  To this end, we will introduce a Voluntary Youth Corps (VYC) to give young Australians greater opportunities to build life skills and confidence in their abilities.

Young Australians aged 18-25 years who have been unemployed for over 12 months will be able to participate in a voluntary six week training programme run by the Australian Defence Force, through the Army Reserve and Centrelink.  The programme will seek to promote in its participants a sense of discipline and self-respect, confidence and pride in their achievements and potential. 

Jobseekers registered with Centrelink would be able to apply to participate in the VYC.  While attending the programme, participants would continue to receive their unemployment benefits. 

The VYC will offer 100 places per intake with six to seven intakes per year.  Voluntary Youth Corps programmes will range from self-development and team-building activities to fitness and adventure training, such as rock-climbing, rafting, bushcraft, landscape and wildlife conservation and camping. 

The Corps will also focus on equipping participants with life skills, involving job search and career awareness activities, a first aid course and new sets of skills such as computer, transport driving or technological training.   All Voluntary Youth Corps activities will be drug and alcohol free.

To minimise the impact upon defence force capabilities and personnel, the Voluntary Youth Corps will predominantly draw upon the skills and experience of the ADF’s reserves and retired military personnel for mentoring and administration. 

The Voluntary Youth Corps will not be funded out of Department of Defence or Centrelink budgetary allocations, but from a new allocation of $10 million over four years. 

The Voluntary Youth Corps model is based on the highly successful New Zealand Programme called “Limited Service Volunteers” which has been running for over 16 years with over 12,000 participants.  

Eighty percent of participants graduate from the New Zealand programme.  Seventy percent of these graduates no longer need social security benefits within two months.  The course is highly regarded by employers and parents alike.

The success of the New Zealand programme is, in large part, due to the mentoring relationship that develops between staff and participants.  Drawing on this insight, the Voluntary Youth Corps will have a low staff to participant ratio of one mentor per eight participants.

The Voluntary Youth Corps will compliment employment participation measures previously announced by the Coalition, including the Job Commitment Bonus, the Jobseeker Relocation Payment and our commitment to invigorate and expand the Australian Employment Covenant. 

The Coalition wants to build an opportunity society for all Australians.  We are determined to ensure that people aren’t abandoned to a lifetime of welfare dependency but are engaged in work if they are reasonably capable of it.