Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the an you update the Senate on the progress of the Morrison government's $1 billion JobTrainer Fund and how this program is ensuring that Australia has the skilled workforce it needs for economic recovery?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has made it very clear that our recovery from COVID-19 is well and truly a skills led recovery. We need to ensure that businesses, industry and employers in Australia have the employees with the requisite skills they need. That is why the Morrison government is investing, this year alone, a record $7 billion in our vocational education and training system within Australia. This includes our JobTrainer skills package, along with the wage subsidies that we're putting in place, including the boosting apprentices and trainees commencements measures and also the supporting apprentices and trainees measures that we have put in place.

As part of our JobTrainer package, partnering with the states and territories we will deliver around 340,000 additional training places to our vocational education and training system. The key to these places is that they are in areas of actual labour market need. We have worked closely with the individual states and territories to determine on the ground, in those states and territories, what are the additional training places they need. I'm very pleased to inform the Senate that, with Victoria lifting their restrictions, all states and territories are now signed up to JobTrainer. In fact, training is now being delivered in South Australia, Western Australia and New South Wales. With these three states alone, we already have coming online an additional 200,000 training places. In my home state of Western Australia, the first starter—it was only launched in September—there are already 7,868 enrolments. People want to train in areas of labour market demand.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Cash! Senator Antic, a supplementary question?

Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How does this substantial investment in new skills training build upon the work that the government has undertaken to support small businesses and keep apprentices in training through the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the very first actions that the government took at the outset of COVID-19 was to ensure that our small businesses were able to keep their apprentices and trainees on the job, in training, where we need them to be. We, of course, put in place our supporting apprentices and trainees wage subsidy. It commenced in April of this year, and it runs through until March next year. As at 5 November, this measure alone has supported over 55,600 businesses, the majority of them being small businesses, and we are retaining over 97,900 apprentices and trainees on the job. In fact, to date, over 20,000 bricklayers, 15,000 electricians, 10,000 plumbers, 5,000 hairdressers and 8,000 automotive mechanics have been supported through this wage subsidy. They have been kept on the job in those businesses because of the actions the Morrison government took.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Antic, a final supplementary question?

Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, as we emerge from the economic impacts of COVID-19, how will the government's JobMaker budget build on our record of skills reform and support new apprentices into training?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In addition to the measure of the supporting apprentices and trainees subsidy to keep them on the job, as a government we understand we now need to encourage new commencements to occur to ensure that pipeline of skilled workers. In doing that, we have now invested in a $1.2 billion boosting apprenticeship commencement wage subsidy. This will create around 100,000 new training opportunities for Australians across Australia. What we've done is we've said to employers of any size, in any industry, in any location in Australia they are able to access the wage subsidy to sign up new apprentices and trainees. The wage subsidy is a substantial wages subsidy; it is 50 per cent of the apprentice's wage, flowing through until 30 September next year. We will ensure that apprentices and trainees are kept on the job but also that new apprentices and trainees come into the pipeline. (Time expired)

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

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