I thank all contributors to this debate — the members for Malvern, Melbourne, Mornington and Gippsland East. I will pick up on some of the comments made and the content of the discussion around the amendments to the bill, and I want to reinforce my appreciation of this chamber for passing this legislation.

We feel strongly about the need for appropriate checks, balances and safeguards. These are important both in a legislative sense and to make sure there is sufficient flexibility in the way the scheme operates to be able to react to changing circumstances and demographics of identified at-risk employee groups. We will be able to facilitate a capacity to get funds to those employers who are doing the right thing by the community and are making a contribution by employing identified eligible employees.

It is important that we recognise that the bill incorporates a guideline process, and the maintenance of that guideline process is very important as it will enable us to monitor and manage the take-up associated with this legislation. Importantly, we also recognise — as have some of the speakers who contributed to today’s debate — that schemes that have been proposed and applied previously have not necessarily achieved the sort of take-up that a scheme as laudable as the intentions that underpin this one have or should have received. It will require a fair degree of diligence, effort and concentration.

One point that the member for Malvern quite rightly noted in terms of eligibility for the scheme is, in broad terms, not in the bill. That in many ways is about ensuring that we have the flexibility to react to changing circumstances and to hear the input of members in this Parliament and of employers who anticipate or identify problems with the way the scheme operates. We want to be responsive and make sure that this bill is facilitative and recognises the changing nature of employment in this state.

Over the last three months in government we have seen about 12 000 jobs created in the Victorian economy, but quite frankly I am a pessimist by nature and this may well belie the fact that there are still some quite considerable challenges in the Victorian economy. Everything we do and everything we muster in terms of effort should be directed towards assisting those employers who are doing the right thing and those workers who need some assistance. I know a number of speakers, including the member for Malvern, have wished the scheme well and also indicated some concerns about whether there will be adequate take-up. I acknowledge that that is a challenge for the government, and it is one to which we will be diligently applying ourselves. That is why we need the flexibility of the guidelines.

I might say — and members can take this as either a naive or a gratuitous offer to this Parliament — that if members in this place identify concerns about the operation of the guidelines, I would be more than happy to talk to them about it, because I genuinely believe that if we are serious about creating employment this is not necessarily an issue that sits entirely within the responsibility of government. I accept that the government ultimately is held accountable for these matters, but it is a shared responsibility. It is a responsibility that our respective constituencies believe it is important that we attend to with some degree of consensus.

I note that the member for Melbourne made the point that there was a momentary ringing out of consensus around these issues. The bill is probably better as a consequence of the efforts we have made and the discussion we have had. Accountability is an important thing. We will on occasion differ in our views about what constitutes an appropriate level of administrative or parliamentary oversight and safeguard in these arrangements. I do not take that as necessarily an indication of ill will by either side of the Parliament but simply of a different set of motivating factors. I recognise the importance of Parliament operating to ensure that governments are properly held to account for the people who depend on this place to deliver good government and good legislation.

I will briefly make an observation about the processes that would be required going forward around how groups are identified for the purposes of ensuring that they constitute employees who would be eligible for payments to employers. The member for Melbourne raised the issue of a series of groups such as asylum seekers and others. I make the point that this legislation is focused on the mischief or the ill of unemployment. The circumstances she described around asylum seekers and the high levels of unemployment attached to them are very real, but they are also addressed by dealing with the problem of unemployment — that is, by paying employers the appropriate incentives for taking them on. Those groups or sectors within the community which are most adversely affected, such as asylum seekers, will be some of the principal beneficiaries of these arrangements simply because of their circumstances. This measure is about the scourge of unemployment. The categories of unemployment we have identified will ensure that these groups get ample access should they, by virtue of the application of these payments, be able to find work. That is a critically important thing.

I do not wish to be churlish about any commentary we have exchanged back and forth in getting to this point. Robust debate is important in this place. We have the capacity to recognise that we are obligated to advocate for good public policy, and whilst I believe that the bill in its original form would have greatly assisted getting to a good policy outcome, the amendments and the discussion we have had nonetheless will serve the state of Victoria as well. I thank all those who have been involved in what may have been seen as a somewhat willing and sometimes strained engagement. Ultimately we, collectively, never lost sight of the people who depend upon us — that is, the unemployed, who require this Parliament to ensure that the efforts and the focus of the government, and ultimately the accountabilities that this Parliament attaches to government, are directed towards good policy outcomes. On that basis I commend the bill to the house and wish it a speedy passage.