Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Fawcett for his question and his strong interest in relation to the skills that Australians receive, particularly the skills they receive in non-university pathways to ensure that they are equipped to access job opportunities in the future and that our economy receives the types of skills in its potential employees that allow businesses to grow and the Australian economy to grow overall. That is why one of the stand-out policies announced in last night's budget was the new $1.5 billion Skilling Australians Fund—not another dodgy national partnership agreement, the likes of which those opposite have negotiated in the past and that just saw cost-shifting onto the Commonwealth, but a new, perpetual, fully funded Skilling Australians Fund to deliver investment in skills to fill Australian jobs, investment that will deliver around 300,000 new training opportunities and new apprenticeships over the next four years. This will give young Australians the opportunity to secure a great job, a great career—the types of careers that often mean they go on to be the small-business people and employers of the future, running their own businesses with the trade background they have secured and employing other Australians.

The Skilling Australians Fund would be targeted towards priority occupations and growth industries. These include but are not limited to key industries right across Australia, like tourism and hospitality, health and ageing, agriculture, engineering, manufacturing, building and construction, and the digital technologies. We are re-engineering the relationship between the Commonwealth and the states and territories in vocational education and training to ensure that every dollar the Commonwealth invests is matched by investment alongside it from the states and territories in the real creation of training places to support Australians to get the skills they need in the future.