The Hon Sussan Ley MP
Deputy Leader of The Opposition
Shadow Minister for Industry, Skills And Training
Shadow Minister for Small And Family Business
Shadow Minister for Women
Federal Member for Farrer
Today a career politician, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and a career staffer and union lawyer, Skills Minister Andrew Giles, tried to talk up their credentials on skills and apprentices. No one is buying it. Here is what they did not tell you about skills and training.
There are fewer Australians being skilled under Labor:
- Australia has lost over 80,300 apprentices and trainees – a loss of one in five;
- There are 34,685 fewer women apprentices and trainees in-training and a near halving of new starts for women in skills, or a loss of 44,605;
- There are fewer Trade Apprentices in-training and a 25 per cent drop of new starts and there are fewer Construction Trade Apprentices in-training with a 26 per cent drop of new starts.
Skills shortages are worse under Labor – Skills shortages have worsened since the Albanese Government took office and remain higher today than under the Coalition. From June 2022 to June 2023 skills shortages increased by 12.5 per cent and the latest data indicates 33 per cent of all occupations are in shortage, which is higher than under the Coalition.
Labor has the wrong priorities on skills – amid critical skills shortages in the construction sector, Labor put yoga instructors, dog handlers and martial artists above tradies on the nation’s draft priority skills list and excluded tradies from the Specialist Skills Pathway.
Labor’s Free TAFE election policy is opposed by those closest to the skills crisis – the Business Council of Australia, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, Master Builders Australia, and the Housing Industry Association all oppose Labor’s Free TAFE legislation.
Labor’s delivery of skills programs is in question – Labor’s renewable energy workforce initiative, the $100 million New Energy Apprenticeships program, is so poorly targeted that aspiring piggery attendants are eligible for $10,000 payments.
More than 27,000 businesses have gone insolvent since the Albanese Government was elected and Labor’s economic failures have made it harder than ever to put on an apprentice or trainee.
Only the Liberals and Nationals will strengthen our economy and get our country back on track.