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

I thank the member for Bowman for an excellent question. He is a go-ahead guy in a go-ahead part of south-east Queensland. I will illustrate that point by making it plain that in 1996 the federal electorate of Bowman came 52nd in the ranking as far as unemployment is concerned—52nd best in Australia. Now it is the 20th best. It is No. 20. That in itself underscores the fact that 3.2 per cent unemployment is the figure in Bowman today, which shows that around Cleveland and Redlands there has been a terrific amount of development with businesses investing in themselves. The best way that businesses can invest in themselves is to take on apprentices.

The Australian government is backing that decision of Australian business with record amounts of incentives and benefits to both employers and apprentices. Some $571 million in the coming financial year is anticipated, with $43.7 million in personal benefits directed to apprentices themselves. If we go back to a full set of figures that can be properly analysed from the 2001-02 financial year, we see that employers spent $3.6 billion in direct expenditure on structured training. This in fact represented a 52 per cent increase on where they were at in 1996. There we were five years ago: employers realised that investment in training was important and they were getting on with it.

The recent Australian Industry Group report, World class skills for world class industries, looking and talking to business, outlined that a 30 per cent increase on top of that is anticipated by Australian business over the next three years. All I can say to the member for Bowman and all members in this place is that the prospect for further job growth is very real. Factored in, of course, with the Australian government’s Work Choices legislation, we will see businesses being confident enough to invest in themselves by taking on more apprentices. This provides opportunities for young people to get a start in a job and thorough training to develop technical and employable skills. They, of course, also help to create the employers of the future. We know on this side that, when we came to office, we saw just 161,500 people in training in 1995-96. There are now almost 400,000 people in training in this country. That is an increase of 141 per cent.

Government members are always attentive to this point: the low point in Australia’s history was back in 1993 when the employment of apprentices reached its lowest ever ebb of just 122,700 people. And who was in charge? Who presided over the single biggest drop in Australia’s history? The now member for Brand, the Leader of the Opposition.

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