Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Arts and Sport, the Hon. Senator Kemp. Will the minister update the Senate on the significant benefits of the coalition government and how it has delivered to arts and sport in this country? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies?

Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Barnett for that very important question. Senator Barnett, I am very happy to acknowledge your longstanding interest in sport and the arts as well—which might come as a surprise to a few people. Senator, your question is greatly appreciated. The Treasurer’s announcements in the budget on Tuesday were very widely welcomed by the arts community and the sports community. We were able to provide significant additional sums of money for arts and sports programs. I will outline some of the very important initiatives that the government undertook. Most senators would have heard from the sports community the great pleasure they had at noting that this year’s budget committed an extra $55.7 million over four years to high-performance sport.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not Carlton then!

Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, you have kept fairly quiet in recent weeks, and that is very wise in light of some of the difficulties you have had. This is an important question and the sports community are very interested in the way this new money will be divided up. The additional funding will go to the Australian Sports Commission for a range of programs to support talent identification, coaching and sports science programs and to increase the capacity of the Australian Institute of Sport to develop new talent. The total allocation to the Australian Sports Commission in 2006-07 for high-performance sport is approximately $125 million.

If Australia is going to compete as well as we have in the past as we go on to Beijing and then to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and then of course on to London, it is important that we develop talent and that we provide talent with the best possible support. I congratulate the government, and particularly the Minister for Finance and Administration, on the very strong support that he has given to our sporting system.

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

Don’t try grovelling now!

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! This is not a comical question. I ask the chamber to come to order and let the minister answer in some sort of peace.

Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is quite clear that the Labor Party does not take art or sport seriously. Senator Barnett will be very interested to know that we are providing a total of $67 million in the next financial year for initiatives that offer improved participation in quality sports activities by all Australians. As part of this commitment, the Australian government will invest some $34.2 million for the development and implementation of the Active After-school Communities program. This was announced some time ago by the Prime Minister and has received very strong support from senators on all sides of the chamber.

In relation to the arts, the coalition government once again has delivered more to the arts community than the Labor Party even dreamed to contemplate. This year’s budget provided an unprecedented commitment to the arts community. An additional $100 million approximately has been committed to the arts in this budget, which has been widely supported by the sector. Included in this sum is $31.5 million to enhance the role of Old Parliament House through the creation of a gallery of Australian democracy. The National Library of Australia has benefited and there are a number of other benefits going to orchestras. I do not know whether— (Time expired)

George Campbell (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Vanstone, representing the Minister for Education, Science and Training. I note the minister’s response to the question asked by Senator Fielding, but I ask the minister whether she is aware of the Australian Industry Group’s comments on the budget:

... it is disappointing that more progress has not been made on the big nation-building goals of skills and innovation. Investment in skills, innovation and infrastructure are required to build the competitiveness of Australian business and to assist in rebalancing the economy as the current mineral boom begins to fade.

As the Australian Industry Group has been warning for some time, aren’t skills development and training the prime factors in building the competitive advantage that Australian industry needs on the world stage? Why then has the Howard government continued down the low-skills road with priority for funding of vocational education and training decreasing as a proportion of total Commonwealth expenditures from 0.75 per cent in the current financial year to 0.67 per cent in 2009-10?

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Vanstone, I would ask you to answer that particularly long question.

Amanda Vanstone (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. Someone on this side—someone with an acid wit—quipped that we could have skills training in reading a clock so that the senator would get his question out in time. But they have probably had a hard day. I do not know who it was who said that—some wit back here, or someone with some sort of wit, anyway.

In response to that question, I am not directly aware of the specific remarks to which Senator George Campbell refers, but I did hear him talk about industry training as a percentage rather than in real terms. For the Senate’s benefit I must remind myself next time we sit to distribute some graphs showing a fall-off in training funding in real terms, a fall-off in commencements in real terms and a fall-off in people in training, which is not only commencements—all of which happened under the previous Labor government. Then Senator George Campbell will be able to see the skills hole or black hole to which I refer.

Nonetheless, the minister has provided me with some information on this matter. The Australian government, of course, welcomes AiG’s report World Class Skills for World Class Industries, which was launched recently. It will contribute to a better understanding of the manufacturing industry and help to stimulate industry and community awareness of the importance of training for national prosperity. The government views investment in education and training as a key priority, and we are contributing $10.1 billion over the next four years to vocational education and training. That is worth repeating for Senator Campbell’s benefit: $10.1 billion over the next four years to vocational and technical education.

The vocational and technical education assistance is focused on providing a flexible responsive system that addresses current and future skill needs and meets the needs of industry, communities and individuals. The Australian government’s National Skills Shortages Strategy is a cooperative approach to tackling industry skill needs, particularly in traditional trades. Projects being implemented, including those for the mining industry and the plastics and chemical industries, are delivering outcomes, including recognition of existing workers’ skills, because that is important—don’t ignore the people that are already there and the skills that they have—and, in particular, enhancement of their career paths. It is not all about just the people coming on.

The report points out that governments, industry bodies and employers all have an important role to play in developing and delivering quality training. Companies consulted for the study called for an overall increase in the expenditure on all forms of education and training not only from government but from industry itself. The government welcomes the anticipated increase in training expenditure of about 30 per cent during the next three years by most of the companies consulted during the study.

With only 51 per cent of firms surveyed investing in staff training, the report wisely urges employers to commit to their plans to increase training expenditure. Of the employers surveyed in the report, more than two-thirds—actually 68 per cent—viewed training provider services as satisfactory. Many employers reported highly positive experiences with both particular TAFEs and private training providers. The AiG report endorses many of the policy approaches developed by the Australian government, including greater user choice.

The government’s policies have helped to generate strong growth in adult apprenticeships of over 40 per cent in commencements between 2000 and 2005 and a growth of 28 per cent in youth apprenticeships 19 and under over the same period—hardly a dismal story; in fact, quite the opposite.

George Campbell (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. If Australian business understands the importance of skills development for Australia’s future, as is clear from AiG’s disappointment at the budget, why then is the government refusing to increase investment in the skills and talents of Australia’s young people? Why is the government’s only answer to the ongoing skills crisis to import an extra 270,000 skilled workers from overseas while turning away 300,000 young Australians from our TAFE colleges?

Amanda Vanstone (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Campbell has clearly not read the budget papers, and I direct him to those to look at the extra investment in training. I also remind him that the Australian government has not turned anybody away from TAFE. Each state and territory has responsibility for managing its TAFEs, and the government will provide record funding of $5 billion to the states and territories through the Commonwealth-state agreement for skilling Australia’s workforce 2005-08 to support their training systems. That represents a real increase of 4.1 percent compared to 2004.

We have committed, as I said, $10.1 billion over four years for training. Our election commitments include initiatives to attract and retain people in new apprenticeships. This is the emperor with no clothes. It is this government that has poured money into training for vocational skills. (Time expired)

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.