Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I am absolutely happy to concede that my error in commencing my answer was not to say that I reject the premise of the question from Senator Farrell, but it was very nice of Senator Watt to help Senator Farrell with his remarks. Most importantly, as I was indicating about our $3 billion investment in VET, it includes the national agreement, the Skilling Australians Fund and our own skills program—including employer incentives and support for Australian apprenticeships—and the list goes on. Most importantly, I don't intend to take a lecture on skills from those opposite, because we know that the decline in apprenticeship commencements began under the former Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government. We know that the greatest fall in apprentice numbers on record occurred in 2012-13, when the number of apprenticeship commencements fell by 85,000 in a single year. Why did that fall happen? I'll tell you in a moment. (Time expired)