Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Resources, Forestry and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I see the member for Greenway laugh at the proposition that the government should help pay kids’ TAFE fees—that is no laughing matter to a young apprentice on a few dollars a week—and that we actually give them completion payments to encourage them to complete their apprenticeship. Why wouldn’t you think about that when you have about a 40 per cent drop-out rate? How do you shorten apprenticeships and encourage the kids? By giving them a few more bob through a review of the apprenticeship system and giving them the enthusiasm to complete their apprenticeship course.

Members such as the member for Greenway think the apprenticeship system and doing things like that for the kids in Western Sydney is a laugh. I come from Western Sydney and I know how important it is to them, as do you, Mr Deputy Speaker Hatton. This is no laughing matter. This is a very serious issue. It is about kids in the most disadvantaged suburbs actually getting additional apprenticeship places. It is about saying to their mum and dad: ‘We care about your kids getting some proper training in Australia.’ That is all we have heard government talk about for far too long—‘You don’t have to go to university.’

We have to focus this debate on real skills development and get incentives in place to get more meaningful and secure training opportunities in Australia. If you want to increase productivity in Australia, then skill the Australian workforce—skill them now and continue to skill them in the future. It is about time the Howard government recognised that, as a result of its massive funding cuts in the 1996 budget, it has progressively and continuously inadequately funded TAFE and VET Australia-wide to the detriment of our skills base and our future growth. Just go and talk to the resource and hospitality companies in Australia at the moment. If we do not do something serious about this, investment will be lost, regional Australia will miss out and the economic cake will be smaller because of the Howard government. (Time expired)

Debate (on motion by Mrs Markus) adjourned.

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