Mr BAILEY - 1998-10-14
Today on radio, and again only a short time ago in here, the minister defended his record of giving the Territory the lowest school retention rates in Australia. The minister explained his failing on the basis that students are leaving to take up traineeships and apprenticeships.
Is part of the crisis in training caused by the minister’s lack of understanding that most traineeships and apprenticeships prefer applicants who have in fact completed year 12?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, there is no doubt that there are some people who do and there is no doubt that that is the case, but it is interesting that the opposition this morning keeps referring to the radio this morning and it certainly becomes very apparent the fact when you look at the situation as to where they get their leads from and where they get their direction, because it certainly does not come from within the craniums of the 7 people sitting over there.
If anyone has listened to this debate – in fact, I said on the radio this morning that I think a lot of what had been said on the media, particularly on the radio, Triple D, over the last couple of weeks, has given a pretty good indication. In fact, even when they have interviewed union officials, the only comment that union officials have said so far about what government could do more of is that perhaps there should be a bit more regulation. That is the only thing. They have had union officials on, they have had members of industry associations. That is the only comment so far in terms of the sort of things that government should be doing, in fact the main area there.
There are students who leave school after Year 12, at stage 2, who go on and do traineeships. There are students who leave before then, and if that is their choice they should be encouraged to do so. What you are finding here is the member for Wanguri again trying to dictate what students should be doing. If a Territory student wants to leave school before Year 12 and go out and get a job, why shouldn’t he or she do that without being called a drop-out? Perhaps another area that we should look at, and we highlighted this yesterday, is the area of boosting some of the female participation rates in the non-traditional areas.
I notice not one question so far has come about the Skills Shortage Taskforce. Do you know about that? The member for Stuart says: ‘Absolutely’, and shakes his head. We have, in cooperation with industry, been working through a process identifying a number of strategies, but of course that is something that has also gone unreported by the members opposite this morning.
Mr BAILEY: Point of order, Madam Speaker! Under standing order 13 the answer should be relevant to the question. The question was specifically about retention rates and the minister overseeing the lowest retention rate to Year 12 in the country. That is the question. Why are you happy to preside over the lowest retention rate in the country? The opposition is not responsible for that, you are.
Mr ADAMSON: I would have thought talking about a Skills Shortage Taskforce was relevant to the question. Is the opposition saying that a Skills Shortage Taskforce is not relevant to this debate?
Madam SPEAKER: Minister I suggest you do answer the question.
Mr ADAMSON: I shall. The Skills Shortage Taskforce I believe is in fact a very important cog in this whole argument and debate. It is integral to where training in the Northern Territory and Australia to extent is headed. For members of the opposition and for the member for Wanguri to dismiss such an organisation and such a process as being irrelevant to this process shows again how totally out of touch with reality he is. That is the scenario at the moment. We are working in conjunction with industry and we shall continue to do so.
Is part of the crisis in training caused by the minister’s lack of understanding that most traineeships and apprenticeships prefer applicants who have in fact completed year 12?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, there is no doubt that there are some people who do and there is no doubt that that is the case, but it is interesting that the opposition this morning keeps referring to the radio this morning and it certainly becomes very apparent the fact when you look at the situation as to where they get their leads from and where they get their direction, because it certainly does not come from within the craniums of the 7 people sitting over there.
If anyone has listened to this debate – in fact, I said on the radio this morning that I think a lot of what had been said on the media, particularly on the radio, Triple D, over the last couple of weeks, has given a pretty good indication. In fact, even when they have interviewed union officials, the only comment that union officials have said so far about what government could do more of is that perhaps there should be a bit more regulation. That is the only thing. They have had union officials on, they have had members of industry associations. That is the only comment so far in terms of the sort of things that government should be doing, in fact the main area there.
There are students who leave school after Year 12, at stage 2, who go on and do traineeships. There are students who leave before then, and if that is their choice they should be encouraged to do so. What you are finding here is the member for Wanguri again trying to dictate what students should be doing. If a Territory student wants to leave school before Year 12 and go out and get a job, why shouldn’t he or she do that without being called a drop-out? Perhaps another area that we should look at, and we highlighted this yesterday, is the area of boosting some of the female participation rates in the non-traditional areas.
I notice not one question so far has come about the Skills Shortage Taskforce. Do you know about that? The member for Stuart says: ‘Absolutely’, and shakes his head. We have, in cooperation with industry, been working through a process identifying a number of strategies, but of course that is something that has also gone unreported by the members opposite this morning.
Mr BAILEY: Point of order, Madam Speaker! Under standing order 13 the answer should be relevant to the question. The question was specifically about retention rates and the minister overseeing the lowest retention rate to Year 12 in the country. That is the question. Why are you happy to preside over the lowest retention rate in the country? The opposition is not responsible for that, you are.
Mr ADAMSON: I would have thought talking about a Skills Shortage Taskforce was relevant to the question. Is the opposition saying that a Skills Shortage Taskforce is not relevant to this debate?
Madam SPEAKER: Minister I suggest you do answer the question.
Mr ADAMSON: I shall. The Skills Shortage Taskforce I believe is in fact a very important cog in this whole argument and debate. It is integral to where training in the Northern Territory and Australia to extent is headed. For members of the opposition and for the member for Wanguri to dismiss such an organisation and such a process as being irrelevant to this process shows again how totally out of touch with reality he is. That is the scenario at the moment. We are working in conjunction with industry and we shall continue to do so.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016