Mr BURKE - 2007-02-21
During the 2005 election campaign, the Martin Labor government set the ambitious target of 10 000 new apprentices and trainees. Can the minister advise on progress in meeting this ambitious target?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan for his question. He, like all of us here, has constituents whose sons and daughters will be apprentices or trainees who are bound up in these numbers I am about to advise the House of today.
Yes, 10 000 new apprentices and trainees was a very ambitious commitment that we made at the time of the last election. There were many people, particularly from the opposition, who were saying we would not meet that target, that it was totally unachievable.
Ms Carney: Have you met one? Good for you.
Mr HENDERSON: We know the Leader of the Opposition never likes to hear good news. Never let good news spoil a good conspiracy theory, Leader of the Opposition, or ignorance.
Two years on, I am pleased to advise the Assembly that, for 2005 and 2006, at the latest count, we have started 5243 new apprentices and trainees across the Northern Territory. That is a great achievement. We talk a lot about numbers in this House. There are a lot of numbers bandied around here, but let us think about this: this is 5243 young Territorians who are getting their first start in life as an apprentice or trainee out in the workforce. That is something that should be celebrated by our community because that is very significant.
It has not happened by accident. We were the first government in the Northern Territory to formerly commit, in a policy sense, to building trainees and apprenticeships and upskilling young people in the Northern Territory through Jobs Plan 1 and Jobs Plan 2.
We have committed significant funding to assist employers to take on apprentices and trainees. We recognise, as a government, that there is a cost to training people and, in a very competitive business environment, those costs borne by the employer mean that other employers who may not contribute to the trainee effort are at a competitive advantage over those employers who do the right thing in training young people. To support employers, we have had 895 employer incentive packages across the Northern Territory; 324 Skill Shortage Trade Employer Incentives - that is $7000 to each employer who employs what used to be called ‘a blue collar apprentice’; 541 Small Business Employer Incentives of $3000 each, which is a significant support; and 30 Community Council Employer Incentives at $4400 each.
We are also supporting those young people. We all know that, in the first year of an apprenticeship or traineeship, the wages are not that great. I know, as a first year apprentice many years ago – and the member for Drysdale shares the same trade background - that first year on the tools, life is pretty tough. Therefore, this year we committed 830 $1000 Workwear/Workgear Bonuses – that is cash in the hand for those young people to help them out in the first year of the apprenticeship; 830 of those across the Northern Territory.
When we talk about the 5243 new apprentices and trainees, people talk about the traditional trades. That is the biggest skills gap that we have at the moment. Talk to anybody in the construction industry or in any of the engineering disciplines, they just cannot get tradespeople. Well, out of the 5000, we have 1423 trade apprenticeships. If you compare that to the last year of the CLP government, there were only 795, so we have doubled that by a focused policy effort.
Madam Speaker, we are on track. We will work hard to continue to roll out these opportunities for young Territorians. We are on our way to the 10 000 and we will get there.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan for his question. He, like all of us here, has constituents whose sons and daughters will be apprentices or trainees who are bound up in these numbers I am about to advise the House of today.
Yes, 10 000 new apprentices and trainees was a very ambitious commitment that we made at the time of the last election. There were many people, particularly from the opposition, who were saying we would not meet that target, that it was totally unachievable.
Ms Carney: Have you met one? Good for you.
Mr HENDERSON: We know the Leader of the Opposition never likes to hear good news. Never let good news spoil a good conspiracy theory, Leader of the Opposition, or ignorance.
Two years on, I am pleased to advise the Assembly that, for 2005 and 2006, at the latest count, we have started 5243 new apprentices and trainees across the Northern Territory. That is a great achievement. We talk a lot about numbers in this House. There are a lot of numbers bandied around here, but let us think about this: this is 5243 young Territorians who are getting their first start in life as an apprentice or trainee out in the workforce. That is something that should be celebrated by our community because that is very significant.
It has not happened by accident. We were the first government in the Northern Territory to formerly commit, in a policy sense, to building trainees and apprenticeships and upskilling young people in the Northern Territory through Jobs Plan 1 and Jobs Plan 2.
We have committed significant funding to assist employers to take on apprentices and trainees. We recognise, as a government, that there is a cost to training people and, in a very competitive business environment, those costs borne by the employer mean that other employers who may not contribute to the trainee effort are at a competitive advantage over those employers who do the right thing in training young people. To support employers, we have had 895 employer incentive packages across the Northern Territory; 324 Skill Shortage Trade Employer Incentives - that is $7000 to each employer who employs what used to be called ‘a blue collar apprentice’; 541 Small Business Employer Incentives of $3000 each, which is a significant support; and 30 Community Council Employer Incentives at $4400 each.
We are also supporting those young people. We all know that, in the first year of an apprenticeship or traineeship, the wages are not that great. I know, as a first year apprentice many years ago – and the member for Drysdale shares the same trade background - that first year on the tools, life is pretty tough. Therefore, this year we committed 830 $1000 Workwear/Workgear Bonuses – that is cash in the hand for those young people to help them out in the first year of the apprenticeship; 830 of those across the Northern Territory.
When we talk about the 5243 new apprentices and trainees, people talk about the traditional trades. That is the biggest skills gap that we have at the moment. Talk to anybody in the construction industry or in any of the engineering disciplines, they just cannot get tradespeople. Well, out of the 5000, we have 1423 trade apprenticeships. If you compare that to the last year of the CLP government, there were only 795, so we have doubled that by a focused policy effort.
Madam Speaker, we are on track. We will work hard to continue to roll out these opportunities for young Territorians. We are on our way to the 10 000 and we will get there.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016