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

The member for Jagajaga is wrong again in her assertion and her assumptions. Whilst those opposite spent all of last year talking down and in fact trying to deny Australians tax cuts, they took their eye off the fact that we put a record $1 billion extra in last year’s budget towards skills and skills development—in fact, over four years, over the current quadrennium, $10.1 billion. And last night we continued it: the Treasurer put $181.6 million into a range of new programs to meet Australia’s continuing change in skills demands—that is, an extra $106 million over four years for new apprenticeships centres, an extra $6 million to fund the coordination of national skills shortages strategies, and on and on and on it goes. What the Labor Party has not focused on is the effort of last year which produced a record amount, a record investment and the challenge to Australian businesses to take full advantage of those circumstances.

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