Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Vanstone, the Minister representing the Minister for Vocational and Technical Education. Is the minister aware of comments on ABC Radio by Productivity Commissioner Judith Sloan that:

Migration is not a skill formation policy. You really have to think much more broadly in terms of all the incentives for Australian employers and employees to gain skills.

Given these comments, can the minister explain why the government has rebadged the New Apprenticeships Incentives Program and cut funding in net terms by $41.5 million? Can the minister also confirm that, instead of training more Australian apprentices, the government has imported an extra 270,000 permanent skilled migrants since 1996 and is handing out 100 new temporary skilled worker visas every day? Why has the government given up on training Australians and gone for the quick fix of importing workers to overcome our skills crisis—something which experts like Professor Sloan say will not work?