Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Hansard source

I will be brief, because no doubt this matter will be debated again subsequently in this chamber. But I want to make some brief comments about the Prime Minister’s announcement today. It is extraordinary, after 10 years of the Howard government and a failure to train Australians—a record which includes turning away 300,000 young Australians from TAFEs—that the government finally, when it is under a bit of political pressure, is doing something to address the skills crisis over which it is has presided and which in fact it has directly contributed to through its failure to train young Australians.

It is extraordinary that the Prime Minister comes now to the parliament and says, ‘We’ve got a great plan,’ simply because he is under political pressure because the community, business and the parliament—through the opposition and other parties—have been saying for some time: ‘Our country needs more skilled workers; our country needs investment in training and education. That is the way of the future, not the low-wage, low-skill future that is implicit in the Work Choices legislation.’ It is not until the government is under a bit of political pressure that it actually chooses to do something. It did not choose to do anything in the budget this year. We had a budget just a few months ago. Did we see investment in education and training in that budget? No. It happens only when the Prime Minister believes he is actually under a bit of political pressure, as he should be because of the economically irresponsible failure to invest in education and training.

I want to make one point—and, as I said, this will no doubt be the subject of further debate at a later stage—about who misses out in Skills for the Future. There is nothing in this package for young unemployed Australians below the age of 25. We all know—all the evidence shows—what investment in young people, early school leavers who do not go on to post-school education, can return. And what is the Prime Minister giving to those young people? He is essentially saying under this package, ‘If you’re an early school leaver, we want you to hang around for nine years, between the ages of 16 and 25, before we give you access to the centrepiece of this package, which is the work skills vouchers.’

I want to make the point also that today saw the release of the unemployment figures and, despite the good headline rates, the figures demonstrate that, despite economic growth, we have one in five Australian teenagers unemployed. One in five Australian teenagers remain unemployed. On the same day, the Prime Minister announces this great skills package which does nothing for Australians under 25. Not one dollar of the Skills for the Future package goes to attracting Australian kids under 25 to get into traditional trade apprenticeships.

The fact is that the government has presided over a skills crisis. The government has been asleep at the wheel when it comes to education and training over the last 10 years. Now, because it is under a bit of political pressure, it is investing some money in education and training. There is nothing in the Prime Minister’s package for young Australians at a time when one in five Australians teenagers who are looking for work remain unemployed. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.