Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I have just had mining raised and I will give you the answer in a second; I do not think it is going to be the answer you are expecting. There are currently more than 3,500 people enrolled in these training places, with more than 200 signing up each day. We have already 400 registered training organisations delivering more than 550 qualifications in 980 sites around Australia, including 145 people undertaking qualifications of importance to the mining and construction industries. These are the most recent up-to-date figures about the delivery of these 20,000 training places, the first of 630,000 training places to come.

This record of achievement and delivery in the first six months of this government stands in stark contrast to what came before. Of course you cannot fix the skills crisis overnight. We have never suggested that you could, but we have hit the ground running with these 20,000 training places out there, with Australians now getting the benefit of that training in areas that matter to skill shortages and capacity constraints. This is simple economics. If skills are short and if businesses cannot fill jobs, that leads to an economic constraint on growth. We are all about lifting that economic constraint. We are all about dealing with the inflation and interest rate challenges. In contrast, members on the other side do not even know whether they believe inflation exists. On the day that they do concede inflation exists, they have got no idea how to deal with it. Their only economic strategy is a $22 billion smash-and-grab raid on the surplus, which would put upwards pressure on inflation and interest rates. This is a party that is now joined together by three things. Helpfully, the member for North Sydney told us yesterday they are united around hatred for the Labor Party—nothing about working Australians or looking after them, but hatred of the Labor Party—they are united around Work Choices and, as we now know post budget, they are united around economic irresponsibility.

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