Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

The Rudd government is taking a national approach. From January next year the government has mandated that Australian apprenticeship training programs will include green skills as part of their training. New jobs and skills will be required, obviously, to tackle climate change, and again our apprentices are embracing the challenge. I advise the Senate that the government is taking a national green skills agreement to the COAG meeting next month that will set national standards of green practice and teaching in vocational education. It will also assist vocational education teachers to learn new green skills to pass on to their students and in developing programs to help vulnerable workers develop green skills. I am also hopeful that at tomorrow’s Ministerial Council for Tertiary Education and Employment there will be support for a national regulator, real reform for vocational training to ensure uniform and consistent green skills are developed. (Time expired)