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

You may well laugh, but your colleagues in state Labor governments approve and endorse these authorities. Many of these authorities are in fact direct agencies of these state Labor governments. Their requirement is that they must be satisfied that the apprenticeship cannot be filled locally. If they chose to do so—as I would expect that they would if they are appointed by state Labor governments—they can confer with local unions if they feel they need to satisfy themselves about the vacancy that exists. The shadow minister knows full well that this is the case. There is very strong protection.

The training visa builds on 10 years of initiatives which have seen a 146 per cent increase in new apprenticeships since 1996, from 130,000 to 390,000. You on the other side should be deeply embarrassed by that. New apprenticeships have gone from 130,000 to 390,000 and you have the gall to stand here and pretend that you have something innovative.

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