Mr McCARTHY - 2008-09-10
I believe that the government’s target of 10 000 new trainees and apprentices within four years has been reached. Can the member please provide the House with further details on this achievement?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Barkly for his question. In 2005, this government set a target of 10 000 commencements for apprentices and trainees over four years. We have reached that target inside the four year period. We are now committed to a further target of 10 000 commencements from 2009 so that we maintain that growth in apprenticeships and traineeships ...
Mr Mills: Is it true that half of them failed to complete?
Ms SCRYMGOUR: I know the Leader of the Opposition is really excited about this. He, like me, is totally committed to ensuring that we get these apprenticeships and traineeships up, because it is very important to skilling the Northern Territory. The last time I checked, the member for Barkly actually asked a very important question, particularly when we start looking at skilling our Northern Territory in some of the trade areas. Because we have big growth in our economy, we need to start getting some of those trade skills, such as carpentry, engineering, automotive, and electrical. We are seeing some 49% of Territorians taking up training in those areas. This percentage is one of the highest in Australia.
Over 23% of apprentices and trainees in traineeships are Indigenous, which is a fantastic number when you look at the overall numbers. More than a third of that number of current trainees and apprentices are women. We are proud of this achievement. However, it would not happen, and it just does not happen, by accident. To get all of this happening, government subsidises or puts a further commitment with employer and employee incentives – initiatives such as the Workwear/Workgear program, into which we have injected an additional $0.5m, which goes a long way to provide support for young Territorians when they are transitioning from school into work. This is just one example of what we are trying to do to attract new starters and increase completion rates.
The last time we went through the Estimates process, the Leader of the Opposition asked me that question. The department responded to the Leader of the Opposition that that is one area that we certainly do need to do a bit better in, in terms of completion rates. We have good commencement rates. It is a matter of ensuring that those completion rates are completed and we do get it. It is an issue, and we are continually working to ensure those young people stay in.
We have met the target of the last 10 000. We will meet this target of 10 000. We will ensure that the completion rates within those targets are met.
As government, we do not take aim and shoot. We have a very clear strategic plan; Jobs Plan 3 certainly covers that. We have boldly set ourselves targets. We have been courageous in our approach to ensure that we reach them.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Barkly for his question. In 2005, this government set a target of 10 000 commencements for apprentices and trainees over four years. We have reached that target inside the four year period. We are now committed to a further target of 10 000 commencements from 2009 so that we maintain that growth in apprenticeships and traineeships ...
Mr Mills: Is it true that half of them failed to complete?
Ms SCRYMGOUR: I know the Leader of the Opposition is really excited about this. He, like me, is totally committed to ensuring that we get these apprenticeships and traineeships up, because it is very important to skilling the Northern Territory. The last time I checked, the member for Barkly actually asked a very important question, particularly when we start looking at skilling our Northern Territory in some of the trade areas. Because we have big growth in our economy, we need to start getting some of those trade skills, such as carpentry, engineering, automotive, and electrical. We are seeing some 49% of Territorians taking up training in those areas. This percentage is one of the highest in Australia.
Over 23% of apprentices and trainees in traineeships are Indigenous, which is a fantastic number when you look at the overall numbers. More than a third of that number of current trainees and apprentices are women. We are proud of this achievement. However, it would not happen, and it just does not happen, by accident. To get all of this happening, government subsidises or puts a further commitment with employer and employee incentives – initiatives such as the Workwear/Workgear program, into which we have injected an additional $0.5m, which goes a long way to provide support for young Territorians when they are transitioning from school into work. This is just one example of what we are trying to do to attract new starters and increase completion rates.
The last time we went through the Estimates process, the Leader of the Opposition asked me that question. The department responded to the Leader of the Opposition that that is one area that we certainly do need to do a bit better in, in terms of completion rates. We have good commencement rates. It is a matter of ensuring that those completion rates are completed and we do get it. It is an issue, and we are continually working to ensure those young people stay in.
We have met the target of the last 10 000. We will meet this target of 10 000. We will ensure that the completion rates within those targets are met.
As government, we do not take aim and shoot. We have a very clear strategic plan; Jobs Plan 3 certainly covers that. We have boldly set ourselves targets. We have been courageous in our approach to ensure that we reach them.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016