Media Release
Thursday 22 June 2017
Employment Minister Grace Grace is urging Pine Rivers businesses to hire a jobseeker and put themselves in line for support payments of up to $20,000 under the Palaszczuk Government's expanded Back to Work jobs program.
"Thousands of regional Queenslanders are now back at work thanks to this great program and I want to encourage Pine employers to get on board now and hire a jobseeker," Employment Minister Grace Grace said on a visit to Pine Rivers.
Member for Pine Rivers Nikki Boyd urged local employers to get on board with the popular program which has already proven a hit in regional Queensland.
"Employers in regional Queensland have already hired more than 4,800 jobseekers under our Back to Work program, and we think it can also be a huge success in Pine Rivers," Ms Boyd said.
The Back to Work SEQ program kicks off on July 1 and is backed by $27.5 million in new funding.
"This will support up to 1,500 new jobs and it's available to employers in the South East who take on a long-term unemployed or a young unemployed jobseeker aged 15-24 years," Ms Boyd said.
"Regional Queenslanders know that Back to Work is delivering the goods for regional jobseekers and with the support of local employers is can also achieve great results here in Pine Rivers."
"Back to Work SEQ specifically targets long-term unemployed and younger jobseekers aged 15-24, and it would be great to see jobseekers from these categories getting more employment opportunities."
Toby Peacock of Q-Solutions located in Brendale is the owner of a local growing business. "The Back to Work program enables Q-Solutions to give local job seekers a go and expand our local manufacturing operation," Mr Peacock said.
"With all of the associated costs to employers, this program helps to incentivise and ease some of that pressure," Mr Peacock said.
Back to Work Southeast Queensland *
From July 1, 2017
Support payments available for eligible employers of up to:
* $15,000 for eligible employers who hire a long-term unemployed jobseeker (a person unemployed for 52 weeks or more)
* $20,000 for a young jobseeker (aged between 15-24 years)
* To be eligible, employees need to have started work on, or after Saturday 1 July 2017, and have been employed for at least four weeks.
*Eligibility criteria applies
Businesses can visit www.qld.gov.au/backtowork or call 13 QGOV (13 74 68) for more information about Back to Work, or to apply for an employer support payment.
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