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Welfare changes: Kevin Andrews talks up plans at TasCOSS conference

Federal Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has told Tasmanian welfare organisations there is widespread support in the sector for the Government's proposed changes to the system.

Among the policy proposals is a move to strip welfare payments from jobseekers under 30 for six months.

It is part of the Government's "earn or learn" strategy, which it hopes will break the cycle of welfare dependency.

Mr Andrews today talked up the proposals at the Tasmanian Council of Social Services' (TasCOSS) annual conference.

"I found that when I'm going around the country, the sector [is] generally supportive of reform," he said.

He told the conference it did not matter if young people were already educated.

"People can come out of university with degrees but may not have the vocational skills for a particular job," he said.

"Even people that might have university degrees can still learn vocational skills, which can help them get a job.

"The best way of having a job in the long term is to get a job in the first place. These are not harsh reforms.

"That's what we're encouraging people to do, get a job or get some more skills that will get you a job."

He said the Government was encouraging people to move to find work.

"In the budget there were measures that would provide financial incentives for people to move to where jobs are and there's been a good take up of that so far," he said.

Minister does not understand Tasmania's problems: TasCOSS

Tony Reidy from TasCOSS was not convinced by Mr Andrews' pitch.

"The idea of being compulsorily moved to try and acquire a job is bad social policy," he said.

"Young people in particular who go to new areas without family or community support to try and achieve a job in a very tight job market, they're off to a bad start."

Mr Reidy said the Minister did not understand the problems in Tasmania.

"It is a very tight job market in Tasmania and sometimes people look at this issue very glibly," he said.

"The situation is that we sometimes have one or two jobs advertised in a particular business and you'll have 200 applicants going for those roles.

"It's a tight job market, what people need is support, they need additional training or retraining.

"They don't need to be punished for the fact that the economic cycle isn't providing jobs.

"None of them recognise that to put someone into dire poverty that way will see them on the street."

Jenny Branch-Allen from Carers Tasmania also questioned the Government's motives.

"It's also about making things better for them," she said.

The conference runs until Friday.