Sharon Grierson (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Ask the 40 per cent of people who do not finish their New Apprenticeships training whether it is an adequate response. That is not true either? No, I think it is true. Ask all those workers around Australia who have been sacked and rehired for lesser pay and conditions whether that is an adequate response. The answer is clearly no, it is not an adequate response; it is an absolutely pathetic response.

A real response would be to take up Labor’s proposals to promote skills training in our schools. Under Labor’s skills blueprint, trades technology and science would be taught in first-class facilities; a trades-in-schools scheme would double the number of school based apprenticeships and provide extra funding per place; specialist schools would be established to teach trades technology and science in senior years; and a trades taster program would allow years 9 and 10 students to experience a range of trade options. We need to give our kids a go at trades in our schools. We need to get to them early and get them involved. Labor’s skills-in-schools plan would get them in. Labor’s plan to overhaul the New Apprenticeships scheme would keep them in.

Under Labor’s apprenticeship plan, a range of incentives would be offered to increase the number of young Australians completing their training. These would include an $800 per year skills account, which would abolish up-front TAFE fees. They would also include a $2,000 trade completion bonus under which apprentices in traditional trades would receive a $1,000 payment halfway through their training and a further $1,000 payment at the completion of their apprenticeship. This scheme aims to lift the Howard government’s woeful 40 per cent apprenticeship completion rate to at least 80 per cent.

Labor is also committed to abolishing the Howard government’s skilled migration visa so that young Australians are given the opportunity to train first. Labor’s plan recognises that young Australians are crying out for opportunities and that Australian businesses are crying out for skilled workers—tradespeople, chefs and child-care workers. This is particularly true in my electorate of Newcastle, where our industries are building a growing reputation for innovation, value adding and excellence. This reputation can only be maintained and enhanced if they have access to a skilled workforce and the means to train young apprentices.

The Howard government’s proposed technical college in my region is expected to enrol year 11 students in October next year. That is three years after it was promised at the 2004 election.

See this speech in context