Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education and Training, Senator Birmingham. I refer to the minister's letter responding to former Senator Day's request for funding of his pet student-builder pilot in which he told the former senator that the pilot could not be funded because 'employers consider a continuing strength of Australian apprenticeships is work-integrated learning' and 'institution based models did not garner wide support from employers or industry groups' and apprenticeships provide 'significant on-the-job experience and training', enabling employers to 'meet their particular needs'. Why did the minister subsequently provide $1.84 million to the pilot when he had already made such a strong case against funding it?