Steve Thomas rubbishes State’s CTRL Your Summer Job campaign as a dud

The shadow finance minister has ridiculed the State’s CTRL Your Summer Job as another failure. Speaking in Parliament last week, Liberal Steve Thomas MLC said only three jobs were secured under the campaign to get 14-year-old workers in the Capes region into the hospitality sector in time for peak tourist season. About 123 positions were advertised and 73 applications lodged. “Like the Government’s last regional employment failure, the Work and Wander out Yonder program, this new version has delivered a lot of hype, a little hope, and very little results,” Dr Thomas said. “A month after the launch of this new jobs marketing piece it appears to be another well-meaning thought bubble that will not fix the problem. “Three successes to date, when the peak tourist season is already upon us, can hardly be called a raging success.” The program started from a South West Development Commission inquiry responding to concern about labour shortages this summer. Tourism workers have overseen uptake of the platform as some users related concerns employers were not proactive in responding to applicants, while at least one employer told the Times they found the website unresponsive. Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan chided Dr Thomas for premature criticism and “stupidity”. “The rest are waiting for the employers to contact them and to see whether we can make a match,” she said. “We do not apologise in any way, shape or form for taking the initiative to try to find any possible pool of labour.” School holidays had just started, and work was in progress to match jobseekers and positions now. “We are giving it a go,” Ms MacTiernan said. “We are having a crack. No one has pretended that this is a total solution. It is about doing every possible thing that we can to find labour to help.” Ms MacTiernan lauded SWDC for taking a hands-on role and rejected the Opposition’s criticism. Earlier this month, Dunsborough’s Peko Peko owner Troy Bottegal said he was forced to reduce opening hours because of a lack of staff. He slammed the State Government’s campaign as an “absolute joke”. “This is glib, bandaid management, an absolute joke,” Mr Bottegal said. “We need actual solutions from this Government, not marketing campaigns.”