Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

We saw the highest number of apprentices on record thanks to policies like the Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System, a $2.4 billion program which focused on boosting apprenticeship completions. We were able to support businesses to employ and train apprentices and trainees with programs like the Skills and Training Boost, which supported small and family businesses with a fee deduction and a bonus deduction of 20 per cent in the cost of external training delivered by registered training providers. During the COVID-19 pandemic we protected those businesses and 530,000 apprentices with a crucial wage subsidy program, saving jobs, protecting employers and supporting Australia's productivity at a time at which it was most at risk. We supported jobseekers and young people with low-fee or fee-free training through the $2.1 billion JobTrainer Fund. This created 478,000 training places in crucial skilled sectors, including aged care, to which 10 per cent of places were directed. I could go on about our successes in government, but I am running out of time.

To the bill itself, there are a number of things the coalition will support. The coalition is in step with the government's commitment to resolving the situation in national VET activity data collection, which can see data lags of up to 20 months. Whilst in government, the coalition also sought to address the issues. Once again, this is a bill which continues important reforms that the coalition started. Specifically, the bill gives effect to some of the recommendations outlined in the Braithwaite review. This was a review commissioned by the coalition when in government, and, naturally, we support in principle those recommendations as laid out in this legislation. We do so in good faith and expect that the government will subject this bill to a thorough committee examination to ensure that the issues raised by the sector are aired and addressed. I'm pleased that the government has agreed to make that commitment.

See this speech in context