Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

You have not thought of those things. Superannuation and taxation reform will enable older Australians to work longer. There is a huge investment in skills training. The government has increased funding for vocational education and training by 88 per cent in real terms since 1996—the member for Jagajaga can shake her head but that is a fact—to a record $2.5 billion this financial year. The member opposite is embarrassed, but these are the facts.

The number of new apprentices in training has increased by 172 per cent, from 143,700 when Labor had control to 391,000 now. The number of students enrolled in vocational education and training has increased by 26 per cent, from 1.268 million to nearly 1.6 million. Not only that, but we will have 24 new technical colleges around Australia in the next four years. We are providing an additional 20,000 places in the next four years in the New Apprenticeships Access Program, specifically targeting industries and regions experiencing skills shortages and supplying tool kits to the value of $800 to around 34,000 new apprentices each year who are entering a skills shortage task.

Of course, immigration can and will play a big part in a range of programs across many portfolios. The regional apprenticeship training visa is all about this. It is adding one other plank to dealing with this skills shortage, this skills challenge, driven by a strong economy and an ageing population. It is part of a wider government policy program across many portfolios.

Claims that the new apprenticeship visa ignores a pool of young people in the cities who Labor claims would readily take up an apprenticeship are totally misleading and mischievous. This is a two-stage process ensuring that this does not occur. Firstly, an apprenticeship vacancy which an employer seeks to fill using a trade skills training visa recipient must be placed on the Australian Jobsearch database. Secondly, and much more importantly, the new visa requires certification from regional certification bodies that no Australian apprentices can be found to fill the vacancies.

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