Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry) Share this | Hansard source

I will summarise some of the arguments put forward by members who have contributed to the consideration in detail. I absolutely refute the argument just put by the member for Kingsford Smith that these Trade Support Loans will stop people commencing or completing apprenticeships.

The reason we have gone down this path is to increase apprenticeship completion rates. When we have a situation in some trades where two out of three apprentices are not completing—quite often, one out of two is not completing—their apprenticeships, the issue needs to be addressed.

It would be a wonderful world where the government had plenty of money and could just keep giving it away without worrying about outcomes. The reality is we have to wake up to the current situation. We have a decreasing number of young people completing apprenticeships, particularly in trades we require for our skills based future.

The member for Cunningham, during consideration in detail, asked: 'What advice will be provided to young people under 18?' I said in the summing up that the apprenticeship centres will be providing information and increased summary information to the parents and guardians of people under 18. There are people today under the age of 18 who are accessing the HELP scheme. They sign up, and there is no detailed information for them. Yet the repayment is, perhaps, fractionally more onerous under the HELP scheme that it will be under this.

In relation to the comment about providing the lump sum money when people require it the most, the whole scheme is designed around providing what, in some references, is through-life support during the apprenticeship. In the first year, $8,000 will be provided in 12 payments, monthly in arrears, of $666.67 per month. Under the previous scheme, there were five lump sums: $800 at three months, $1,000 at 12 months, $1,000 at year 2, $1,200 at year 3 and $1,500 at year 4 on successful completion. We will move to a system where, in year 1, $8,000 is received; in year 2, $6,000 is received; in year 3, $4,000 is received; and in year 4, $2,000 is received, with a $4,000 discount on successful completion of the apprenticeship.

Many speakers in this debate, and out there in 'real land', say that the problem is that the cost of living and the wages paid in apprenticeships make it very difficult for apprentices to stay in the game. The whole idea of this is to provide support on a needs basis to the individual, who can opt in every six months to receive payments to top up their income, to buy tools or to provide support with costs of living. It is about making sure that those on the lower incomes are provided with the support that they individually require.

One of the other points that was raised by the member for Cunningham was in relation to indexation. She asked whether the rules could be changed like the HELP scheme. I say to her: the legislation that was drafted for the HELP scheme was legislation drafted by the former Labor government. This legislation is along the same strain. We have put into the legislation that the loans can only be increased by the CPI, but a future government can change it. It is simple legislation; it is not doubly-entrenched legislation.

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