Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, and Social Inclusion. How is the government’s stimulus package supporting apprenticeships?

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

I thank the member for her question. I know that she has been very concerned to keep her constituents in work and to support jobs during these difficult days of the global recession. As the member for Page is aware, last week the government released our Keep Australia Working report. This report arises from forums around the country, Keep Australia Working forums where we have listened to the voices of local communities, particularly local communities most at risk of rising unemployment, during these days of the global recession. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the government to thank Lindsay Fox and Bill Kelty, for their leadership role in those forums, and to thank my parliamentary colleagues Senator Mark Arbib and Parliamentary Secretary Jason Clare for their role in leading those 21 forums around the country. There have been a number of messages from those forums which are important to the government and important to policy development, but one of the very important messages was the communities are already thinking and working for recovery and in doing that they are determined not to let our young people down and not to let our young people bear the brunt of this economic downturn in the way they have borne the brunt of economic downturns in the past. On the question of the impact on our young people, recently released data shows that trade apprenticeship commencements in traditional trade areas have fallen by more than 20 per cent over the last year. Obviously, we want to arrest that decline and, in order to give young people an opportunity, we have moved to better support apprenticeships. As a result of this information, the government is finetuning its economic stimulus to ensure that the right skills are provided to assist business while at the same time giving new apprentices a great start. This measure is all about ensuring stimulus continues as we build a better future for apprentices and Australian businesses.

So, having heard the voice of local communities last week, I announced a key initiative to redirect some of the Jobs Fund’s money towards a $100 million apprenticeship kick-start package. This shift in funding has been supported by and agreed with our Jobs Fund partners, the Greens and Senator Fielding. This new initiative to kick-start apprenticeships will more than triple the first year incentive paid to employers who take on a traditional trade apprentice this summer. This means that an employer who acts quickly and picks up a kid coming out of school this year will get more than triple the normal incentive for doing so. The cost of this is $80 million. It will only be available over the coming summer period. It only applies to employers who take on apprentices aged 19 or younger. It is a highly focused, highly targeted kick-start for young Australians into apprenticeships in traditional trades. A further $20 million will boost our pre-apprenticeship programs which assist young people to get a quick start into trades. This measure will be about traditional apprentices. It will be about butchers, bakers, electricians, mechanics, plumbers—all of the traditional trades that people identify as a great opportunity for a young Australian. The measure has got the strong support of the Australian Contractors Association, the Ai Group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the ACTU and Group Training Australia. I hope that members in this House will get behind this measure and that they will help their local communities and particularly their local employers to get the necessary information to ensure that they can participate in this apprenticeship kick-start program. With this new initiative and the Securing Australian Apprentices measure announced in February, the government will be investing an additional quarter of a billion dollars to support the apprenticeship system over the next 18 months. That is an investment we can be proud of and one to make a difference in the lives of young Australians.