Tony Abbott's green army enlisting now

Date
    March 2, 2014



Tony Abbott's federally funded ''green army'' will enlist 15,000 young people in environmental work, striking young workers from official dole queue figures as youth unemployment soared in the year to January to 12.4 per cent.

But young people who fill the green army's ranks will be paid as little as half the minimum wage, earning between $608.40 and $987.40 a fortnight.   

The scheme - the cornerstone of the government's environmental policies - is modelled on John Howard's Green Corps, and will be an alternative to work-for-the-dole programs.

Under the legislation introduced by Environment Minister Greg Hunt on Wednesday, green army participants - who will be aged 17-24 - will work up to 30 hours a week. They will be given the chance to undergo formal training as part of their duties, but will lose their Centrelink benefits for taking part in the scheme and fall off official joblessness figures.


The basic rate for a single person getting Newstart (the dole) is $501 a fortnight. But Mr Hunt said the scheme would pay young people ''significantly'' more than they would receive from Centrelink allowances, and he hoped the skills young people learnt on the job would encourage them to move into full-time work.

''It's giving every young person in Australia the chance to do something for the environment, and it's bizarre that anybody would oppose, at this time, a youth training program that helps the environment and increases, significantly, the youths' wages.''

Mr Hunt's office stressed that the green army was ''an environmental and training program, not an employment program'', although the government has repeatedly described the army as Australia's largest ever ''environmental workforce''.

The government is aiming the scheme at indigenous Australians, people with disabilities, gap-year students, graduates and the unemployed. Enlistees will do manual labour, including clearing local creeks and waterways, fencing and tree planting.

Green army members will not be covered by Commonwealth workplace laws, including the Work, Health and Safety Act, the Fair Work Act and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act.   

Despite this, Mr Hunt said all green army members would be covered by workplace protections, including state and territory occupational health and safety laws, insurance provided by the government and by ''service providers'' paid by the government to recruit, establish and manage green army teams, and federal work, health and safety ''compliance orders''.

But ACTU president Ged Kearney said the workers should be covered by the appropriate federal workplace protections.

''This is about taking away well-paid, well-protected jobs from people and replacing them with low-paid, unsafe jobs,'' she said. ''This is not about getting people on the margins of the workforce into work, this is about providing a low-paid workforce.''       

Greens MP Adam Bandt said: ''Only Tony Abbott could create a 'workforce' where the workers aren't legally workers and have no workplace rights. If a green army supervisor and a worker under their command get injured while wielding a pick or building a lookout, the supervisor will have the same safety and compensation protections as ordinary employees but the worker won't.''         


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/tony-abbotts-green-army-enlisting-now-20140301-33sy0.html#ixzz2uk7eHvZd

Excellent scheme
A chance to get fit, give something back, network and increase social contacts and a practical program that will teach skills and improve the environment. Will be popular with taxpayers and will be life changing if participants approach it with the right spirit,
A true win,win,win,win,win.  I can see no downside.

aquascoot wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2014 at 7:15am:
Don't your eyes light up at the prospect of cheap labour.  And you're big on everyone else giving something back but haven't yet seen you propose anything that didn't involve a benefit to farmers and employers 

ImSpartacus2 wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2014 at 7:24am:


The green senators drinking cappachinos and discussing the gay mardi gras seems unlikely to benefit the environment

ImSpartacus2 wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2014 at 7:24am:



Unlike the greens who are seriously focused on us reducing our carbon emmisions by 20%, which means bringing Australlian's contributions from 2% of the world's output to 1.6% of the world's output.

Yep, we'll have climate change pretty much fixed after we get those reductions up and running. 


I would rather clean up this place and plant some trees than carry on with this carbon reduction wankfest, of trying reduce bugger, all to a little bit less than bugger all.

wow look at all these farmers who have just stuck their snouts deep into the welfare trough for drought relief doing their best to stop genuine climate change initiatives

ImSpartacus2 wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2014 at 7:24am:


What are the crims on community service gonna do now! Their notice of conviction has just been under cut by "work for the dole"! or will they have to work side by side

What I want to know is.......................
Is this a form of employment?
It's not volunteering by any means.
So in essence you are being employed by the government to earn the dole you receive, hence the name "work for the dole"

So my questions are,
what happens if someone injures them selves whilst on "work for the dole"
do they claim workcover?
Can they sue the government for being injured, example:  A unemployed person has secured a paid position of $1000 per week but the employer does not require them to commence that employment for further 2 or up to 4 weeks, in the mean time they are required to work for the dole and he or she injures themselves and is not able to commence paid employment and has now lost that job.

Any takers on this one???????????????