PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Mr FRENCH (Moore) (12:22): I move: That this House: (1) recognises the Government's Key Apprenticeship Program, which provides $10,000 incentive payments to new tradies, has already attracted 30,000 apprentices in the first 12 months; (2) notes that: (a) carpentry, plumbing and electrical trades are the most popular occupations for apprentices under the program; and (b) the program is calibrated to offer incentive payments at milestones across the course of an apprenticeship, ensuring that apprentices are supported to reach the finish line of their apprenticeship, with data showing stronger retention rates; (3) acknowledges that the program forms a key part of the Government's work to deliver targeted support for apprenticeships in industries where we need them most, particularly housing construction; (4) affirms the Government's ongoing support for the program, with the budget locking in incentive settings for both apprentices and employers until 2029; and (5) expresses concern that despite multiple opportunities to clarify their position, neither the Opposition nor the One Nation party have made clear their support for the program, with the Shadow Minister for Skills and Training calling the program 'wrong' and 'throwing good money, after bad money'.
I rise to move this motion because the Key Apprenticeship Program gets a basic part of the apprenticeship policy right. If we want more qualified tradies, we need to help apprentices stay in the trade long enough to finish, and we need to make it easier for businesses, especially small businesses, to take them on in the first place. I started my electrical apprenticeship at 25.
The wages were not great. I know some people might laugh at the idea of an electrician ever being poorly paid, but every electrician starts somewhere, and most of us started on pretty modest wages. That is one of the reasons these payments are pretty useful.
I received a similar apprenticeship incentive myself. It did not suddenly make the apprentice wages generous, but it helped with the costs that come with staying in the trade—tools, fuel, getting to work. Did I spend every dollar wisely at 25?
Probably not. A trip to Bali may have entered the equation. But take Aaron, a first-year electrical apprentice from Connolly in my electorate of Moore.
He wanted to do a trade, and his family encouraged him to do electrical—clearly, the superior trade, with all due respect to the member for Hunter! Aaron says he plans to put his payment towards tools. Clearly, he has shown better judgement than I did.
The current program gives apprentices support at key points through their apprenticeship, with help for things like tools, transport and the everyday cost of getting to work. That support can make a real difference. There will be times when money is tight, and there will be days when the work is hard.
There will be times when someone looks at what their mates are earning elsewhere and wonders whether it is worth sticking out their apprenticeship. And that pressure can build really quickly. It can affect stress, confidence and mental health.
Getting someone into an apprenticeship is only the start. The real success is getting them through the qualification. The early signs of this program are encouraging, with the overwhelming majority of supported apprentices still in training.
But apprentices are only one side of this. There is no apprenticeship without an employer willing to give someone a start. And, for small business, that is a real commitment.
A first-year apprentice needs supervision. A qualified tradie has to stop what they are doing, explain the job, show them how to do it, watch them do it and then check the work. Sometimes you can spend half an hour explaining a 10-minute job, and then 10 minutes fixing it.
Every tradie has been there. That is how apprentices learn. But, for a small contractor, that time costs money, and a business can spend years training someone who either does not finish or moves on soon after they qualify.
That is why the employer payments in this program are also small business incentives. They help remove some of the cost and risk of taking on an apprentice. The government is focusing more of that support on small and medium businesses and group training organisations, where those incentives can have the biggest effect on hiring decisions.
The same principle applies to TAFE. The cost of formal training sits with the employer. So, when government makes apprentice TAFE free, that is an employer incentive.
It removes another cost from taking on someone and training them. I saw how quickly those costs can grow. When I started my apprenticeship, TAFE and private college in WA were around a thousand dollars.
By the time I finished they had more than tripled, under the former Liberal government in Western Australia. For a large company, that increase might be easier to absorb, but, for a small contractor taking on one or two apprentices, it is another cost that has to be weighed up, and removing that cost makes the decision easier. We need more businesses making that decision, because we cannot build more homes and major infrastructure, and deliver the energy transition, without more tradies.
This program has already backed tens of thousands of apprentices in housing construction, including thousands in Western Australia. The opposition is free to criticise it, but its own shadow minister has called the program wrong and accused the government of throwing good money after bad. If that is their position, then they should explain what they would do instead.
At the moment, it is all sauce, no sausage roll, because the choice is pretty simple: we can make it harder for businesses to train the next generation, or we can remove the barriers that stand in their way. We can leave apprentices to carry the financial pressure on their own, or we can give them the support they need to help them finish. I know what it means—what finishing an apprenticeship can give someone: a trade, a career and opportunities you probably cannot see when you're standing there as a first-year apprentice.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Fernando ): I thank the member for Moore. Is there a seconder for this motion? Mr Gregg: I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.