Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Hansard source

We are investing over $3 billion in skills, for Australians to get the training they need to get ahead. We are proud that we have added over 750,000 jobs to the economy since coming to office. Of course Indigenous Australians are benefiting from those jobs and from those programs. In the 2010-11 financial year, Job Services Australia providers recorded 48,000 commencements into employment for Indigenous Australians, an increase of 25 per cent on the previous 12 months. The Indigenous Employment Program, the IEP, has exceeded its targets by 14 per cent, achieving over 31,000 commencements in jobs and training.

We knew as a government that the GFC would have a disproportionate effect on sections of the community. We knew it would have a big effect on young people. We knew it would have a big impact on apprenticeships. That is why we invested in apprenticeships. We trebled the commencement bonus for business, supporting small businesses and medium businesses but also supporting larger businesses, ensuring they could employ apprentices. We said we would target 20,000 apprenticeships, and we exceeded that, with well over 20,000 apprenticeships during that period. I am very happy to announce that the National Centre for Vocational Education Research found that we were able to return commencements to pre-GFC levels in just over one year. (Time expired)