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

My apologies, Mr Deputy Speaker. The state governments would have confirmed to the shadow minister again and again that there are protections in regard to wages, just as we have seen with skilled workers coming in under the migration scheme—which ministers in Labor governments have been defending all around this country against the false assertions of some of your union bosses. If you had bothered to take the time to speak to your state colleagues, we would not be having this debate and you would not have moved to disallow this regulation.

This government has not let down young Australians. On the contrary, the performance of the Howard government has restored a sense of hope and opportunity to the young people of Australia. Whether young Australians choose to work, study or undertake vocational training, the government has provided demonstrably good outcomes for all of them. Youth unemployment, since we came to office, has dropped nearly 40 per cent at a time when real wages have increased by 15.6 per cent—and the young have shared in that as well. By comparison, the Labor Party record pales into insignificance. In fact, the Labor Party record is embarrassing in comparison to what has happened over the last 10 years for the young people of Australia.

There has been a 122 per cent increase in the number of youth under 19 commencing new apprenticeships since 1996 and they now account for 41 per cent of all apprenticeship starts. The number of school students getting a head start in VET programs has increased by 253 per cent. The government is providing funds to the states and territories to support an initial 167,000 vocational education training places by 2008, including the establishment of 25 Australian technical colleges. The Work for the Dole program has given young people skills. The Backing Australia’s Future program will provide an additional 39,000 university places. I could go on and on. It is clear that this government has not let down young Australians. This government has given great hope and great opportunity to the young people of Australia.

On skills, we do have a challenge. It is estimated that in five years time we will have 200,000 more jobs than we have people to fill them. That is what you should think about. And why is this? There are two main reasons. One reason is that the economy has been going gangbusters for 10 years. We have unemployment at 30-year lows and we have youth unemployment dropping by 40 per cent. That is one of the main reasons we have a skills shortage. We plead guilty to doing that. We plead guilty to prolonged economic growth. But it has put pressure on the availability of skilled workers. When you have close to full employment, that is what happens. It is not something Labor would identify with. You have had no experience with that situation. You do not understand it. You ought to get out there and get a feel for it. This is what happens with economic growth. You get skills shortages when you have near full employment.

The second contributing factor to the skills shortage is the ageing of the population. Its impact is hugely significant and it is pressing. This was acknowledged by the Leader of the Opposition on 3 October last year when he said we are now experiencing massive skills shortages. It is true. We have had a strong economy and we have an ageing population which is coming in on us. Sadly, that is all the Leader of the Opposition has said about it. He offers no solutions. His shadow minister in the House offers no solutions. None of them offers any solutions. All we hear is carping, scaremongering, misrepresentations and lies about our policies in order to galvanise your base, which is disillusioned and which has lost heart.

The member for Batman had it right. He knows what will give your members heart. What will give your members heart is good policy—something that will turn around the skills shortage. And it is not in one area. It requires a multipolicy approach. All of your shadow ministers should be up at this table giving us policies that will address the skills shortage. That is what we are on about. We have introduced reforms on workplace relations, Welfare to Work, superannuation reforms to encourage older Australians back into the workplace, taxation reforms to encourage older Australians to stay longer in the workplace and huge investment in skills training, which I have just been through.

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