Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very proud to represent the Gillard government’s record on job creation and our reform agenda that recognises the strong link between every stage of a person’s education, their employment prospects and our national productivity. In my electorate of Throsby, part of the Illawarra region and the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, general unemployment in the Illawarra part of the electorate sits at several points above the national average. The story, alarmingly, with regard to youth unemployment is particularly dire, sitting at 14.8 per cent, above the state-wide average of 11 per cent. In parts of my electorate, unemployment, and the social disadvantage that flows from this, is an issue that spans generations.

Addressing this issue will be a key focus of my work as the member for Throsby and a member of the Gillard Labor government. We have a clear vision and a strong agenda to focus on education and skills. Given the skills shortages that we are dealing with, Labor’s priority is to train our young people for the long term. An important program in this regard is the Gillard government’s $2.5 billion Trade Training Centres in Schools Program. More than $219 million has been allocated in the third round of the program to deliver 58 projects across Australia.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the principals and teachers who worked on the Illawarra Partners in Education Trade Training Centre. Three schools in this consortium—Warrawong High School, Figtree High School and Illawarra Sports High School—were recently successful in being awarded a grant of nearly $3.7 million. I would also like to congratulate Picton High School and Tangara School for their work in putting together another trade training proposal, which was successful in the latest round in being awarded $1.2 million. Putting together an application like this takes a great deal of time and effort, and I commend these schools for their outstanding commitment to the success of their students.

In regions like the Illawarra and Southern Highlands, where there are high levels of youth unemployment and a lack of access to skills training opportunities—and the social disadvantage that rises from this—centres like these are making a real difference to students because they can get hands-on experience in the trades while they are still at school. These new trade training centres will encourage students to build their capacities and skills so that they can participate in our economy and help meet the skills shortages that we face. In contrast to those opposite, who failed to provide this much-needed investment in skills training when they were in government, Labor’s view is that the long-term solution is to be found in training and educating our young Australians to ensure that they can access job opportunities through the growth in these industries. For Labor, skilled migration will only ever be a part of the solution; our focus is on training our young people to meet the skills needs of the future.

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! In accordance with standing order 193 the time for constituency statements has concluded.