Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to his comments just last Friday on ABC Radio regarding the Western Australian government's plan to lift royalties on iron ore fines when he said:

… Mr Barnett did not communicate that he was going to do this to us … what Mr Barnett has done here is just very strange. He didn't communicate with us … He didn't get our tick. He didn't discuss it with us.

Does the Treasurer stand by his own words?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow Treasurer for his question, because we have had a humiliating backdown from the Western Australian Premier today—he has been forced to admit that he knew that if he took this decision to increase royalties then it would be withdrawn by the independent Grants Commission. He has finally admitted that today. He has also put some correspondence in circulation which goes back almost 13 months—13 months ago he did raise the question of fines but in the 13 months since then he has not discussed the matter with me. It is a matter he has not discussed, but he did put that in a letter—no doubt about that. But he did not say that he was moving to put it in that budget then or in a subsequent budget, because he made that announcement before the budget before last.

So what the Western Australian Premier has conceded today is that he went ahead with a royalty increase knowing that that would most probably result in less revenue for the people of Western Australia. And what that demonstrates is that he is all about politics, not about the benefit to Western Australians, not about investing in infrastructure in Western Australia. So the Western Australian Premier has kicked an own goal. He has increased his royalties but the money is going to be withdrawn, as he knew—as he indicated in that letter—it would be withdrawn. The proof of all of this is an article by Michael Pascoe that appeared in the press on the weekend. He talks about going to Western Australia about a year ago and he says he was talking to Norman Moore, the longest serving MP in that government, and Mr Moore looked him straight in the eye and said to him there was little point lifting royalties as the Commonwealth Grants Commission process would immediately take the revenue away. So the whole time they knew that if they lifted their royalties it would be withdrawn by the independent Grants Commission. They knew that and despite that they went ahead and lifted royalties in this budget—not in the budget before this, not one year ago. So he knew, as is shown by correspondence that was sent in his own name to the Treasury.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order that goes to relevance: I ask the Treasurer whether he stands by his own words.

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

The Treasurer will directly relate his remarks to the question.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I certainly do; I do stand by what I have said about this matter. The fact is this: the Western Australian Premier has kicked an own goal. He has increased his royalties knowing that they would be withdrawn, knowing that was the case, having mentioned that in correspondence and having had his ministers going around telling journalists that that would be the case—and he did not proceed in the budget before last. But suddenly out of the blue he comes forward last week and increases his royalties and then goes out and pretends that that revenue would not be withdrawn despite having admitted that in correspondence and despite having his ministers travel around telling journalists it would be withdrawn—despite all of that.

This is the Premier of Western Australia who this time last year was claiming that mining companies were being taxed too heavily. And, of course, what does he do this year? He increases the taxation of mining companies and he does it in such a way that it makes it difficult for further investment to take place in infrastructure in Western Australia. So what we have is an own goal from the Western Australian Premier and he is also carrying on about this because he knows his budget figures are bodgy, based on exchange rate assumptions which mean that his budget figures are wrong—not just this year but for the rest of the forward estimates.

Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the government investing to deliver more jobs, more apprentices and more skills for the Australian workforce and how will the budget keep our economy strong?

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

I thank the member for Deakin for his question, and, of course, the member for Deakin comes to this place with a good knowledge about what it is like to get a trade education, having been an electrician before he came into this parliament. The budget was about jobs and opportunities and making sure that Australians can fairly share the opportunities that a strong economy brings, particularly that they can have access to the skills they need in the workforce of today to get ahead. We want Australians to be able to have the benefits of work and we want Australians to be able to have the benefits of opportunity, and that means that people need to be able to get access to the education opportunities which will transform their life chances. Yesterday I spoke about the transformation that is happening in Australian universities as more people get the benefit of a university education and more of those students come from poorer backgrounds and from rural and regional areas.

The budget is about jobs. It is about creating half a million jobs in the next couple of years on top of the 750,000 jobs created under this government to date. And it means that our unemployment rate will fall to 4.5 per cent. We know that our economy will be running near full capacity and that means that it will be hungry for infrastructure, hungry for working people and hungry for skills—and we want to feed that hunger. More than 95,000 Australians started a trade in the last 12 months. That is more Australians starting a trade than at any time in the last decade. I think that is good news. New figures released today by the National Centre for Vocational Educational Research show that there has been a 6.3 per cent increase in the number of Australians in apprenticeships and traineeships in the year to 31 December 2010. Trade training commencements for the 12 months to December 2010 increased by more than 20 per cent. Completions are also rising—not just commencements but completions—making sure people stay the course, stay the journey and get through. They have been growing every quarter since March 2009.

This is good news. We acted quickly to save our skills base and save opportunity in our economy when the global financial crisis hit. Now we want to build on that with a $560 million fund to train up to 130,000 workers, that being a direct partnership with industry so the training will be right for the jobs that industry has going. We will invest $200 million over four years in smarter ways of completing an apprenticeship, and we will devote $100 million of that to support apprentices to progress through training at their pace, so that when they have got the skills they can move through to the next stage.

We will also be investing in mentors. We know that even with increasing completion rates too many young people start an apprenticeship and do not see the journey through. We know good mentoring can make a difference to that and we will be funding 300 experienced mentors to provide much needed support to apprentices. This is all part of making sure our economy stays strong, making sure Australians have got the benefits of work and making sure, too, that Australians can share opportunities by having a chance at a great education.