Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment Participation, Senator Arbib. Can the minister inform the Senate on progress under the government’s Apprentice Kickstart program? In particular, did the government meet its target of signing up 21,000 apprentices over summer this year? Given that the National Centre for Vocational Research recently released a report showing a drop in apprentice commencements during the global recession, how has Apprentice Kickstart helped address this trend?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Cameron for the question and the opportunity to report on the progress of Apprentice Kickstart, which has been an extremely important program for the skills base and development of this country and also for young people who, unfortunately, have been in search of a job during the global recession.

Senator Bernardi interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Arbib, resume your seat. Senator Bernardi, it is disorderly to interject. Senator Arbib, continue.

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. We know that during the global recession apprenticeship commencements have been hit extremely hard. On average, commencements have dropped by around 27 per cent. In the construction trades they dropped by more than 30 per cent. The same thing happened in the 1990s. In 1990, around 35,000 people started an apprenticeship in a traditional trade; when the recession hit it dropped to 23,000, a fall of 35 per cent. It then took 13 years, over half of them under the Howard government, to get back to prerecession levels—13 years. This helped, obviously, create a skills crisis that held Australia back. We as a government have been determined not to let this happen again. We have used the Jobs Fund, and Apprentice Kickstart has worked. Not only have we hit the 21,000 apprentice target that we set but we have surged past this over the summer. We are going to go beyond our original commitment to triple the bonus for 21,000 apprentices by paying it for every teenage apprentice who was signed up over summer.

I thank Australian businesses for the support they have given the program. I thank the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. I thank the Australian Industry Group. I thank the HIA and the Master Builders Association for all the work they have done to ensure that these apprentices have been signed up and that young Australians will have a future in the trades. (Time expired)

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister advise the Senate of how industry has responded to the success of Apprentice Kickstart? What further information can the minister provide about any specific regions that have responded to Apprentice Kickstart? Is the minister aware of any members of parliament who have taken an active interest in the scheme?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was talking about the work that ACCI and the AiG had done to support Apprentice Kickstart and getting out there amongst their members and making sure they took it up. Group Training Australia has also been pivotal in the measures they have taken. In their networks they sent messages such as, ‘Apprentice Kickstart has helped alleviate the worst impacts of the downturn.’ In the Illawarra there has been a community campaign to sign up apprentices. They had suffered greatly with a drop of about 22 per cent in apprenticeship commencements. They set a target of 500 apprentices to sign up. Led by Jennie George, Sharon Bird, the local Chamber of Commerce and the Illawarra Mercury, they have beaten 500. I am sure that Senator Fierravanti-Wells will be happy to know that in the Illawarra we have signed up 506 apprentices—young people in jobs, with a career in the trades, setting up for the future—(Tine expired)

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You’re covering your bases, aren’t you!

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I have a further supplementary question. Is the minister aware of any other perspectives about the importance of Apprentice Kickstart and apprentices generally? Has the measure been actively promoted elsewhere?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have thanked businesses and, of course, I have thanked the training fraternity. I take on board Senator Cormann’s comments. He never said a word about Apprentice Kickstart—not on record. I congratulate the member for Murray on her fantastic exposure of Apprentice Kickstart throughout her community. She has blanketed the media in her community to sell Apprentice Kickstart. I also congratulate the member for Gilmore, Joanna Gash, who has done an outstanding job in informing her electorate and helping young people in Nowra, on the South Coast, where unemployment has been extremely high. She has done a brilliant job. I quote the member for Gilmore: ‘It is critical that we help them get a start for both short- and long-term employment levels.’ We know that there is more work to do on apprentices, and that is why the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education has rolled out a massive program— (Time expired)

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

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