Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor's promise is, 'We're going to build 1.2 million homes over five years.' I ask this: who is going to build those homes? Trade apprenticeship numbers have declined over the past 2½ years. They've declined at alarming rates. I think it's important that the Minister for Housing understands that it is tradespeople that build homes. It is electricians. It's builders. It's plumbers. It's roofers. It's tilers. What is this government doing for those apprenticeships? We've heard of the 100,000 fee-free TAFE positions from the minister today that are apparently going to the construction industry. I would really hope that the minister has the numbers as to how many of those places are going to builders, how many are going to plumbers and how many are going to electricians.

This morning I spoke to NECA, the National Electrical and Communications Association. At the moment, on those figures of 1.2 million homes, a new home has to be built every 2.2 minutes to keep up with Labor's promises. Let's start, first of all, with electrical trades. NECA has around 500 to 600 apprentices at their Chullora RTO, registered training organisation, campus. This is a campus that teaches the apprentices. It's a not-for-profit led charity. It has received nothing from the federal government's supposed 100,000 free TAFE spaces because this government is committed to TAFE only. It is not committed to any sort of private education for our trades sector. Under TAFE, around 50 per cent of electrical apprentices complete their training. Under NECA, the number is closer to 90 per cent.

Then we turn to plumbers. I'm really proud because my son, James—he's going to love the shout out; 18-year-olds love that!—has just received a plumbing apprenticeship to start next year. I'm really, really proud of him. The Master Plumbers association has run a similar program. This provides apprenticeships with skills and training as well as pastoral care. This is, similarly, something that the Labor government does not want to fund because of their commitment only to TAFE products.

I want to mention briefly that the Labor government has made a bit of noise about trying to clean up the CFMEU. Let's look at the relationship of the Labor government in my home state of New South Wales with the USU, another prized union organisation. I'm reading from a media release by the NSW shadow minister for skills, TAFE and tertiary education:

In the last three months, NSW has experienced a worrying 21% decline in apprenticeship and traineeship commencements. Now more than ever is not the time to restrict the partnerships that make apprenticeship programs accessible …

What that is the relationship between the USU and local government, which I look forward to speaking on at a different time.

See this speech in context