Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Ballarat for her question. It has been 266 days since the Australian Labor Party asked a question of me in this place about training, about skills or about apprenticeships. It was on 16 August last year, which was the 28th anniversary of the death of Elvis, for the people who want to know.

This government has committed more money to the business of training apprentices than anybody else in history. The results are amazing: 397,800 new apprentices in training—a 146 per cent increase, or an extra 161,000 new apprentices since 1996; 139,600 new apprenticeship completions in this last year—a 314 per cent increase since 1996, or an extra 33,700 completions; 168,200 commencements in trade and related occupations—a 33 per cent increase—

See this speech in context