Gillard to spend on jobs expo

The Gillard Government will spend $15.7 million on community employment schemes amid a predicted increase in joblessness. Source: Herald Sun

A JOBS matchmaking service that was at risk of being closed down will be saved in next week's Federal Budget.

With the budget tipped to show a rise in unemployment and the Reserve Bank warning about slower jobs growth, the Gillard Government will spend $15.7 million on community employment schemes.

Labor will promise 10 new Jobs and Skills Expos around the country and lock in 20 local employment co-ordinators in unemployment hot spots such as southeastern Melbourne, the northwestern suburbs, Ballarat-Bendigo and Victoria's northeast.

In New South Wales this includes Canterbury-Bankstown and South Western Sydney, Central Coast-Hunter, Illawarra the Mid-North Coast, Richmond-Tweed and Clarence Valley and Sydney West and Blue Mountains.

Queensland's hot spots include Bundaberg-Hervey Bay, Caboolture-Sunshine Coast, Cairns, Ipswich-Logan, Southern Wide Bay-Burnett and Townsville.

The priority areas in South Australia are northern and western Adelaide and Port Augusta-Whyalla-Port Pirie.
The focus in Western Australia is southwest Perth while in Tasmania it's the northwest of the state.

Employment Participation Minister Kate Ellis told the Herald Sun the expos had been highly effective in giving 26,800 people a job or training.

They are usually held in a convention centre and act as a matchmaking service between local employers and the unemployed.

"Their success is self-evident. Almost 30,000 jobseekers walking in looking for a job and walking out having found one," Ms Ellis said.

"These expos gather job seekers and employers with vacancies at one venue to match people to suitable employment and training opportunities."

The local employment co-ordinators work with unions and big and small businesses in some of the most difficult job areas. This includes help for retrenched workers.

Funding for both schemes had been due to wind up on June 30.

Employment Minister Bill Shorten said 900,000 jobs had been created since Labor came to power in 2007 while millions had been lost worldwide due to the global financial crisis.

phillip.hudson@news.com.au

View the original article here

Defiant Rudd to fight for Gillard

PM Julia Gillard says she doesn't need a bad Newspoll to tell her that Labor had an appalling week.

FORMER prime minister Kevin Rudd has taken the extraordinary step of writing to his own branch members to distance himself from the botched leadership coup instigated in his name and urged them to support Julia Gillard.

The Griffith MP also warned his local members that Labor would face a battle to hold his electorate - the party's safest in Queensland.

The move comes as some within Labor continue to call for Mr Rudd to retire at the next election, despite his insistence that he plans to recontest his seat.

In the letter sent to about 800 ALP members in Griffith, Mr Rudd said the events leading up to last week's aborted ballot "were not of my choosing" and were "difficult" for everyone in Labor.

He defended his decision not to contest the ballot based on his previous vow not to challenge Ms Gillard and restated his intention to campaign with the prime minister before the September 14 election. Mr Rudd also warned he could lose his seat, which he holds with an 8.5 per cent margin.

"The real task ahead is to hold Griffith for the Labor Party and to prevent Tony Abbott from walking into the Lodge on September 15," Mr Rudd wrote. "That will require all of our energies locally and nationally."

The letter was written just before the latest Newspoll found Labor's primary vote had collapsed to 30 per cent and Ms Gillard's personal approval rating plummeted to a 19-month low.

SUPPORTER: Kevin Rudd is throwing his weight behind his boss Julia Gillard.

Ms Gillard blamed the poll slump on the leadership turmoil.

"I don't think anybody in the country needed an opinion poll to tell them that last week Labor had a truly appalling week," she said.

View the original article here