Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

In speaking in support of the Prime Minister’s Skills for the Future package, I want to start in my own electorate of Flinders. This package comes in the context of work done over the last 10 years which has seen unemployment drop by over four per cent, from a high in the nine per cent bracket to a low in the five per cent bracket. What that has meant in practice is thousands of jobs—over 4,000 jobs and 4,000 families who have had the benefit of work, who have had the dignity of work, who have had the economic outcomes which come from work and who have had the personal satisfaction of working. That is a profound and real outcome for people in the towns of Dromana, Rosebud, Rye, Hastings, Somerville, Koo Wee Rup, Lang Lang, Pearcedale, Cowes and Grantville—real jobs having a real impact on people’s lives. That is the local context and the human context of this package.

The national context is that we have seen over 1.9 million jobs created between 1996 and now. So the story of Flinders is the story which has been told all around Australia, of 1.9 million individuals who have new jobs and new forms of employment. There has also been an increase in the participation rate to the highest level in Australian history. That rate includes those who have jobs and those who are looking for work. You would imagine that there would be a high unemployment rate if more people than ever, a greater percentage of the population than ever, were seeking to be in the labour force. No. We actually have the lowest unemployment level, of 4.8 per cent, in 30 years.

If you want to see what is the real legacy of the last 10 years, it translates into this notion of the highest participation rate in Australian history coupled with an unemployment rate of 4.8 per cent, which is the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years. Those two things together represent more people working not just because we have got a bigger population but as a percentage of the population than at any other time in Australian history. Against that background, the consequence of having more people as a percentage of the population actually employed means that we have the challenge of trying to fill the places of more jobs by chasing fewer spare workers. That is precisely the challenge that every economy seeks to balance. It certainly beats the alternative of having more unemployed workers chasing fewer jobs. In fact, it is a tremendous challenge to have to deal with.

What are the actions that we have taken to date? There are three principal actions. Firstly, we have encouraged an increase in the number of apprentices from 154,000 in training in 1996 to 403,000 in training at present—almost three times the level of people currently passing through the apprenticeship process. Secondly, we make absolutely no apologies for the reforms which are encouraging employers to take on employees and encouraging more people to enter the workforce. They take the form of the workplace relations changes, and 205,000 jobs have been created since those reforms came into place. What that shows is that, given that this is three times greater than the long-term average for that same period, something must be happening.

I make no bones about the fact that there is undoubtedly an effect from the booms in Western Australia and Queensland, but it seems unlikely that this growth in employment just happened to occur at precisely the time that there were changes caused by  the workplace relations legislation. There is a high likelihood of a real correlation. Also, we make no apology for the Welfare to Work reforms to help people to transition back into the workforce. Both of these things have added to the work for apprentices in helping to provide and create the highest participation rate ever in Australian history.

Given all of these things, there is no doubt that we have had challenges in trying to fulfil and achieve the quotas and levels that we want in relation to certain trades. So this package that the Prime Minister puts forward, of $837 million over four years, aims to address four particular needs. Firstly, for people who in their midlife do not have the appropriate level of training or the desired level at school, there is a voucher of up to $3,000 to continue with training. This work skills voucher is a very important invitation and opportunity for all of those who want to increase their skills in whatever area.

Moving onto the second of the initiatives, for mid-career people wishing to transition into the trades, there has been a barrier: the impact of loss of income whilst they go through the early apprenticeship years. For those people seeking to transition from other careers into apprenticeships mid-career, there is a $7,800 Commonwealth subsidy for the first year of that apprenticeship and a $5,200 subsidy for the second year of that apprenticeship. What that should do is help bridge the gap between the wages which they were receiving and the consequent drop if they were to seek to go through the training process. It is an appropriate response, and I think it is a very good one.

The third area is in relation to business skills. For people who are running small businesses, especially those who are working in the trades, there is a $500 voucher to help them in preparing and understanding what is needed to effectively and efficiently run a small business.

The fourth area is in relation to the long-term skilling of engineering. Already there have been significant contributions, but this package announces 500 new university places for engineering available as of next year. I think that that combination of four initiatives is a recognition that we have achieved the highest level of participation in the economy ever, that we have the lowest level of unemployment of 4.8 per cent in the last 30 years and that there are challenges that come from that. As a result—because of the work skills voucher, the encouragement for mid-career apprenticeships, the business skills voucher and the engineering places—I think this sets forward a very important path towards (a) helping with skills and (b) helping to improve the level of participation even further and drop the level of unemployment even lower.

I am delighted to support this package, first and foremost because it will help people in Flinders. It will add to the more than 4,000 families who have received all of the benefits from new employment which they did not have in 1996. Secondly, I support the package because it will help contribute to the life and further economic development of the nation. I am proud to support the package and delighted to see it in the context of all of the changes and the jobs created over the last decade.

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