Steve Gibbons (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Social Inclusion. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on the skills shortage and what the government is doing to address it?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bendigo for his question, and I know he is deeply concerned about education and training in his electorate. The recent budget delivered $19.3 billion for education, skills and training—$11 billion of it in the form of our new Education Investment Fund. Some $1.9 billion was delivered directly for skills, and vocational education and training providers will have access to the $11 billion Education Investment Fund. We needed to make investments of this mammoth nature because by world standards the education system of this country is falling behind, and we face a skills crisis. The legacy of the former government to the nation in education and training has been a system falling behind the standards of the world and a skills crisis. In the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition they have the people who were personally in charge of these matters for half of the period of the Howard government, so they are uniquely, personally responsible for Australia falling behind the rest of the world and facing a skills shortage. The fact that we face a skills shortage was verified by the member for Goldstein, who in the same statement verified that this was basically from neglect. Last year, the member for Goldstein told an industry group, and this is a very revealing quote:

... we’ve got a problem with skill shortage. ... I mean we knew it was coming but it has arrived with a force. ... And you know, it’s only going to get worse.

Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Robb interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I warn the member for Goldstein!

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He was a government minister who thought he was a spectator on a problem, rather than having any responsibility for the delivery of a solution.

Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Robb interjecting

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Where members opposite failed, the Rudd Labor government is delivering on skills and education. We are delivering on skills and education because we know this is a capacity constraint on the economy that is putting upwards pressure on inflation and interest rates. If members opposite doubt the veracity of this advice then they may choose to consult the current chief of staff of the Leader of the Opposition, who said when he was the head of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2004, ‘A recent survey of investor confidence in Australia revealed the No. 1 threat to future investment was the availability of suitably qualified staff.’

Mr Hendy had it right back then in 2004. It was a criticism of the former government, who did not do enough in this area to prevent a skills crisis. We are certainly working on this area. In particular, we delivered in April this year 20,000 new training places, the first of 630,000 training places to be delivered by this government. I am pleased to report that, with these 20,000 training places being delivered, the first 500 graduates will be finished their training and be ready to start work in June. Encouragingly, there has been uptake in skill shortage areas targeted by the program, including aged care and child care.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have just had mining raised and I will give you the answer in a second; I do not think it is going to be the answer you are expecting. There are currently more than 3,500 people enrolled in these training places, with more than 200 signing up each day. We have already 400 registered training organisations delivering more than 550 qualifications in 980 sites around Australia, including 145 people undertaking qualifications of importance to the mining and construction industries. These are the most recent up-to-date figures about the delivery of these 20,000 training places, the first of 630,000 training places to come.

This record of achievement and delivery in the first six months of this government stands in stark contrast to what came before. Of course you cannot fix the skills crisis overnight. We have never suggested that you could, but we have hit the ground running with these 20,000 training places out there, with Australians now getting the benefit of that training in areas that matter to skill shortages and capacity constraints. This is simple economics. If skills are short and if businesses cannot fill jobs, that leads to an economic constraint on growth. We are all about lifting that economic constraint. We are all about dealing with the inflation and interest rate challenges. In contrast, members on the other side do not even know whether they believe inflation exists. On the day that they do concede inflation exists, they have got no idea how to deal with it. Their only economic strategy is a $22 billion smash-and-grab raid on the surplus, which would put upwards pressure on inflation and interest rates. This is a party that is now joined together by three things. Helpfully, the member for North Sydney told us yesterday they are united around hatred for the Labor Party—nothing about working Australians or looking after them, but hatred of the Labor Party—they are united around Work Choices and, as we now know post budget, they are united around economic irresponsibility.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation and Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, the minister was quoting information from a document which is not publicly available. I ask for that document to be tabled.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Was the Deputy Prime Minister quoting a document?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Mr Speaker.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Was the document confidential?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, it is.