Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition interjects again, ‘Name them’ and ‘What is all that about?’ I simply say in response to the Leader of the Opposition’s question: if he looked at the detail of the government’s Compact with Retrenched Workers, the specific provisions which flow from that also apply to the workers who have been affected in this industry. He asked specifically about insulation employment coordinators; I draw his attention to the $1.5 million which will be dedicated to the 25 locations which we intend to fund to assist with those individual workers who have been affected by this program.

The third measure which I outlined today was that which flows from an inability to secure either the first or the second measures that I referred to above—that is, where appropriate employment opportunities are not available, the government will ensure that a relevant training place is available to displaced insulation workers. That is to help those workers transition to more permanent employment in the future, given that the Home Insulation Program itself was designed as a temporary program. If the Leader of the Opposition is asking for further specificity on that, I draw his attention to these points. They are as follows: the government has announced 7,000 training places for insulation workers; 2,000 apprenticeship access places; 2,000 places in the language, literacy and numeracy program; and 3,000 further training places to retrain insulation workers in alternative industries.

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