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

I was talking about the work that ACCI and the AiG had done to support Apprentice Kickstart and getting out there amongst their members and making sure they took it up. Group Training Australia has also been pivotal in the measures they have taken. In their networks they sent messages such as, ‘Apprentice Kickstart has helped alleviate the worst impacts of the downturn.’ In the Illawarra there has been a community campaign to sign up apprentices. They had suffered greatly with a drop of about 22 per cent in apprenticeship commencements. They set a target of 500 apprentices to sign up. Led by Jennie George, Sharon Bird, the local Chamber of Commerce and the Illawarra Mercury, they have beaten 500. I am sure that Senator Fierravanti-Wells will be happy to know that in the Illawarra we have signed up 506 apprentices—young people in jobs, with a career in the trades, setting up for the future—(Tine expired)