Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I note Senator Macdonald's interjection about Cairns. If he wants to ask me a serious question about employment in Cairns I would be happy to answer it. But no doubt we will get muckraking as usual from the opposition. What we know is that the sectors experiencing strong jobs growth over the long term will need people with strong tertiary skills. My department's projections indicate that Australia will need around 270,000 extra construction and mining workers to deal with the mining expansion but there will be long-term growth in the services sector and there will be a requirement for us to continue to provide people with tertiary education to feed the jobs in education, business services and the care services. So we will need more doctors, nurses, bankers, scientists—a whole range of people to fill highly skilled jobs that will need tertiary education. That is why this government's record investment in tertiary education is a key part of supporting the growth in our economy and the jobs of the future. (Time expired)