Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Education, Senator Carr. Why is it that all applications for funding from Tasmania under round 1 of the Trade Training Centres in Schools Program were rejected?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am not certain of the accuracy of that statement and I will take further advice from the minister concerned.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There has been an assertion made. I need to check that with the minister directly.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. For the minister’s information, there were only two applications. While he is asking the minister, could he ask if it is because the government has done a special deal with the Tasmanian Premier, who is also the Tasmanian Minister for Education, which will see the funding go to the Tasmanian government’s Tasmania Tomorrow reforms, which were rejected by 76 per cent of college teachers in a recent secret ballot. Was the member for Braddon, Mr Sidebottom, misleading his electorate when he said in his pre-election brochure:

Trades training in every local school ... Labor will build new labs and workshops in schools like—

and he goes on to name every school in Braddon, including Marist Regional College and St Brendan-Shaw College, who had their applications rejected.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What I can tell the honourable senator is that since April 2008 the government has made available 42,000 training places through its Productivity Places Program, which is for people not currently in the workplace. Training places provide jobseekers with qualifications from certificate II through to diploma levels. There has been an outstanding response to the program and all the places available for this year have now been fully utilised. So I can only presume that the senator is now suggesting that there has been some inadequacy in terms of the supply of places in Tasmania; I do not believe that to be the case. To ensure jobseekers are still able to access training in crucial skills shortage areas for the rest of the year, last week the minister announced an additional investment of $45.5 million for an additional 15,000 training places at certificate III level to be made available to jobseekers— (Time expired)