Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Sturt for his question. I note that this week data has come out showing that the strongest gains in online job ads are from the honourable member's state of South Australia, with a staggering increase of 61.3 per cent pre-COVID. Indeed, the vacancy report from the National Skills Commission shows that job advertisements seasonally adjusted are up 3.3 per cent month on month, standing at 243,500 jobs right now for Australians to take. It is the 12th consecutive month of an increase in job advertisements, which are now 245 per cent above the level recorded in April 2020. It is an extraordinary result as the economy kicks back.

As the Prime Minister has said, if you have a go, you will get a go, and right now Australians are certainly having a crack. The unemployment rate is at 5.6 per cent and 13.1 million Australians are in work today, over 100,000 more than pre-COVID. As the Prime Minister has said, Australia is the only country in the OECD to achieve this result—and I can see those opposite are applauding the government for that! The budget is driving Australia's economic recovery through more jobs and more skills, and there has never been a better time for Australians to get skills. Indeed, there are 1.16 million Australians on JobSeeker or youth allowance 'other', 120,000 fewer than one month ago. Ten per cent of people went off the payment in one month—extraordinary.

There's a great opportunity now for Australians to get skilled. The budget has a billion-dollar JobTrainer Fund continuance to deliver low-fee or fee-free training places in areas of skill needs. This will ensure that Australians can get access to critical skills—10,000 places in digital skills and 33,800 places in the aged-care sector for critical skills. We are also investing $1.5 billion to support the employment of newly commenced apprentices and trainees, assisting school levers and jobseekers, especially during the peak hiring period for key industries. This will see the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy extend for a further six months, through to March 2022, to pick up all the school leavers who will be finishing school at the end of this year. Furthermore, the Morrison government will deliver the single biggest transformation of the employment services model that we have seen in over two decades. The New Employment Services Model will modernise exactly how government has connections with jobseekers and how they connect with employers, placing jobseekers in the centre of their journey to getting a job, with a very strong digital focus. This budget is 100 per cent focused on skilling and getting Australians into jobs.

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