PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Mr VENNING (Grey) (12:28): I want to thank every Australian currently doing an apprenticeship. They are learning the skills that build our houses, run the mines, feed us and keep the lights on in this country. But this motion does not ask the House to congratulate apprentices; it asks the House to congratulate the government.
Does anyone really think this government deserves being congratulated on this matter? Labor talks a big game on apprenticeships and training, but, when you peek behind their points and look at the data, it tells a very different story. When the coalition left office in 2022, there were 426,000 Australians in apprenticeships and traineeships.
The number today is 282,000. That's not a pipeline; that is a drain. Trade occupants alone are down 30,000 since Labor came to government.
In data released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, training and apprenticeship commencements are down in 18 out of 19 industries under Labor: construction—down; manufacturing—down; healthcare—down; mining—down; agriculture, forestry and fishing—down; and the list goes on. But, in what must be a proud moment for those opposite, there is one industry where commencements are growing: public administration.
That's because, when they can't grow the economy, the only solution they have is to grow the public sector. Labor's record on skills and training is worth remembering, and it is worth comparing. Apprentice and trainee numbers almost doubled under the Howard government; when Rudd and Gillard came to government, those numbers went into freefall.
Before those opposite came to government, they were doing everything they could to spin a story and misrepresent the facts on apprenticeships and traineeships—so much that even the ABC fact checkers took a look. This is what they had to say about Labor's record: The fall in traineeships was, in fact, larger under one year of Labor than under the first seven years of Coalition government.
After six years of chaos under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, the coalition inherited trainee and apprenticeship numbers in freefall. What did the coalition government do? Well, we delivered—$2.4 billion in upskilled apprenticeships, $3.7 billion for skills training, 800,000 supported trainee places under the National Skills Agreement.
That's why, when we left office, the number of Australians in apprenticeships and traineeships had reached 426,000. Under Labor, it has declined year after year after year, and here they are, trying to congratulate themselves. The record is clear.
Labor spin the truth—they spin the narrative—while the coalition delivers for Australians. The Labor government has put more than $1.5 billion into fee-free TAFE and have somehow managed to get fewer Australians into apprenticeships and traineeships. Go figure.
And, disappointingly, like in most things this government does, regional, rural and remote Australians get bugger all. Take Coober Pedy, the opal city of the world—a town with a proud history that has been forgotten by the Canberra-bubble bureaucrats. They might have a TAFE building, but they have no pathway into the industry that built the town and sustains the town.
Coober Pedy is half the size it was 30 years ago, and, sadly, this isn't a unique case in regional, rural and remote South Australia. Regional, rural and remote Australians have been forgotten for too long under this government. This government needs to start backing the engine room of our nation, and it needs to start now.