Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, lifting them. I also point out that, back when Labor was in government, an estimated 89,300 individuals applied for but were unable to gain a place to study in a VTE course and 69,400 of these were seeking access to a TAFE place—TAFEs that are run by state Labor governments. Under the Howard government, unmet demand has almost halved and still most of those people are seeking a place at TAFE.

Young people in Australia need to be supported in their life choices. They need timely and professional advice so that they can pursue a trade or further training or go on to university. The Australian government is committed to improving the quality of career education available to support 13- to 19-year-olds and allow them to achieve a smooth transition through school and from school to further study or work. We are doing this through Career Advice Australia. This is the first truly national career development and transition support system for all young Australians aged 13 to 19 years. This is a significant plank in our support for enhancing job opportunities to ensure we have a more productive workforce. The Australian government is injecting some $280 million into this initiative over 2006-08.

Career Advice Australia helps parents, teachers and schools to better understand post-school options. It encourages business and industry to get involved in shaping the future workforce. It gives students the opportunity to gain employability skills through programs such as Structured Workplace Learning and the Adopt-a-School project. It ensures that all young people have access to high-quality and relevant regional and industry-specific career related information.

We have local community partnerships forming. They are developing relationships with key community groups—with local industry, employer groups, schools and others. They are delivering three important programs on behalf of the Australian government: the Structured Workplace Learning program, the Career and Transition Support Program and the Adopt-a-School project. Career Advice Australia also aims to improve the standard and status of career support given in schools through scholarships for career advisers, Australian Career Development Studies, school and industry leaders forums and the Career Education Lighthouse forums.

We are focusing on not only the 13- to 19-year-olds; we are supporting all workers to help them to upgrade their skills throughout their working lives. The $837 million package that the Prime Minister has announced today will ensure that we do have a productive workforce for the future. We are going to invest $408 million in work skills vouchers for adult Australians with no formal qualifications. We are giving them the opportunity to gain important basic skills to lift their productivity and participation in the labour market. Close to $307 million is going to be provided for a mid-career apprenticeship initiative which will assist up to 10,000 apprentices aged 30 and over each year in trades experiencing strong skill needs. Specifically, the initiative assists those employers who find it difficult to remunerate mature apprentices on adult rates of pay whilst they are in the early years of training and are therefore less productive, and those apprentices who may not participate in an apprenticeship because a career change means dropping to a junior rate of remuneration.

The business skills vouchers for apprentices will ensure that apprentices in trades in demand will be encouraged to undertake additional training in small business skills to enhance their future careers. As I mentioned, there will be 500 new engineering places at universities commencing in 2008. The Howard government is building a strong and productive workforce that will continue to underpin our national prosperity. We believe in choice for our young people. We believe they should be allowed to choose whether they want to go into a trade or to university. (Time expired)

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