E&OE..........................................................................................
Well thank you very much Lauren, to Mr Peter Hutchinson the Principal
of Brooks High School, Mr Bill Lawson the Director of the Beacon
Foundation, to my ministerial colleagues Jocelyn Newman and Warwick
Smith, to my other Federal and State Parliamentary colleagues, ladies
and gentlemen.
I must say that of all the occasions that comes the way of a Prime
Minister, and there are many and varied occasions in all parts of
Australia, and none is quite so inspiring and encouraging and warming,
if I can put it that way, as an example of a school, a local business
community a broader community and the student body
cooperating together to provide a brighter and more optimistic future
for the young people who are passing out of that school. And I want,
quite unreservedly, to congratulate all of those who are associated
with the No Dole project here at Brooks school. It is inspiring
that people are willing to give their time on a voluntary basis
to provide a greater sense of hope and encouragement and optimism
to the young within our community.
The opportunity and the achievement of permanent work is, of course,
a cherished goal of all young Australians. Many achieve it, some
don't. The important thing is that they know along the way
they have the understanding and the sympathy and the help, not only
of their parents and their brothers and sisters and their friends,
but also many in the community, starting at the local community
through to levels of State and Federal Government. And what is so
appealing to me about the No Dole project here is that what you
are doing is you are wanting to eliminate the dole as an option
for young people in the future. And I can't think of a more
laudable goal for young people throughout Australia than the elimination
of the dole as an option. And you are not doing it in some kind
of abstract pie in the sky way, you are doing it in a sound practical
way by saying we don't just want you to put the dole aside
as an option, we don't just want you to sign a no dole charter,
we are, in fact, willing to give you help in order to achieve that
objective.
The Government's own approach in this area is very similar.
We launched last year, under the umbrella of the principle of mutual
obligation, the notion of work-for-the-dole. Our view was that if
people can't get work after trying hard to get it, then it
is proper that the community support them, but they might be able
to do something in return for that. And that is the principle of
mutual obligation. And in the changes that we have made to the Youth
Allowance Scheme we have sought to provide people with an incentive
to go into training or to go into work rather than to go on the
dole. And this particular scheme here in Launceston, here at Brooks
School, is a magnificent example and it wouldn't have been
made possible, of course, without the active involvement of the
local community.
Australia has a tremendous tradition of voluntary effort. One of
the things that binds Australians together - and you always see
it in times of national disaster and adversity - is the willingness
of people to sink their differences in the face of a common challenge
and to work together and cooperate. We have seen it magnificently
in the floods that have occurred in Wollonging, just south of Sydney.
We see it in bushfires, we see it in other natural disaster and
the way in which the community is prepared to work together to try
and tackle the problem of youth unemployment and to give people
the aspiration of something other than the dole is a magnificent
example of the local community working together.
All of us have goals for Australia as we go into the 21st
century. What the Government has been saying about taxation reform
in recent weeks is about the aspirations we have for strengthening
the Australian economy as we go into the 21st century.
But if we are to realise our goals whatever they may be, we can't
realise them alone. Governments can't do everything on their
own whether it be a Federal government or a State government. Individuals
can't do everything on their own. They need the love and support
of their families, they need the understanding of their friends
and they need the nurturing influence of their school environment,
they need the help and the counsel of their teachers. And the business
community and the broader community can't do everything on
its own either. It needs an understanding and supportive government
and it needs a proper bond of cooperation with individuals and families
within the broader community.
So to achieve our national goals, to achieve our local goals, to
achieve our personal goals, we do need a measure of cooperation
between the individual, the broader community and the different
levels of government. And this particular project, which I understand
last year had a 100 per cent success rate. I can't think of
anything in Australia that has a 100 per cent success rate. And
I think Mr Hutchinson you are something of a role model and those
who support you and the teachers, and I do want to spend a moment
to thank the teachers, not just teachers here but teachers all around
Australia in both government and independent schools for the magnificent
job that they do. I am greatly indebted for the education that I
received within the government school system in New South Wales.
And it stayed with me for all of my life and I remain very grateful
for what my teachers were able to do for me then. And I think all
of you should feel the same debt to the counsel and the advice and
the support that you have received from your teachers.
So can I wish the No Dole project for 1998 the same measure of
success that has been achieved in the past. It is very difficult
to do better than 100 per cent but there are always ways of working
out how you can do that. But if you can do that again the satisfaction
is immense because there is nothing quite so uplifting in any kind
of community or public life than the feeling that you have actually
done something very positive and very enduring to provide a brighter
future for the young of our community and to help them along the
way to realising their goals.
Goals in life are important. Never lose goals, never lose the zest
and the commitment to set yourself goals. While ever you set yourself
goals your life has a purpose. When you stop setting yourself goals,
no matter what age you are, your existence and your life, and no
matter what you are doing loses its meaning and its purpose. And
the great goal of this project is that the dole should not be an
option. That the real options in life are training and secure employment
and further education. And they are goals that the Government has,
they are goals that the community has. And it is obvious that they
are goals that are shared in common by this school, its students
and the broader community.
So I am very privileged to have been able to come here today. I
thank the school for its hospitality. I very warmly congratulate
its Principal, its teachers and, of course, Mr Lawson the Director
of the Beacon Foundation, who really has been in many ways the original
inspiration for this project and the work that he has done. And
he said to me earlier that he hoped that I might carry the message
of his Foundation across the Bass Strait. Well, can I assure him
that I will because I haven't quite been at a gathering exactly
like this in all the years that I have been in public life.
We hear a lot about cooperation between the community and the Government
and schools and this particular gathering expresses it in an inspirational
and purposeful way, the type of which I haven't seen before.
And I really am very humble to have been invited to come here today.
I am grateful for the role model that all of you represent to the
rest of the Australian community. I wish it well. I have great pleasure
in declaring the Brooks No Dole project for 1998 well and truly
launched and I shall have great pleasure in signing the charter
along with all the other students in Year 10. Thank you very much.
[Ends]