Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Hansard source

We have demonstrated our support for apprentices and trainees, particularly during the COVID pandemic. We've done this through our supporting apprentices and trainees' wage subsidy that began in April of this year and will continue through to March of next year. I'm really pleased to report to the House that, as of last week, this measure alone has assisted more than 56,000 businesses, and 98 per cent of those are small businesses, and we've helped them retain 103,000 apprentices and trainees. This includes 20,000 brickies, 15,000 electricians, 10,000 plumbers, 5,000 hairdressers, and 8,000 automotive mechanics and automotive electricians. That is the result that we are looking for out of the money that we have spent on vocational education and training. We have supported, and we will continue to support, the vocational education and training sector because we know how important it is to deliver the skills that we need as a nation as we come through this COVID pandemic.

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