House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1) 54 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Skills Training Skills Training Ms LUETHEN House of Assembly King Skills Training Ms LUETHEN (King) (14:44): My question is to the Minister for Industry and Skills. Can the minister update the house— Ms Hildyard House of Assembly Ms Hildyard: Is it about Service SA? Ms LUETHEN House of Assembly Ms LUETHEN: —on what the state government is doing to grow skills and innovation across our state? The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member Reynell is on two warnings and continues to interject. If she keeps going, she will be departing the chamber today. The Minister for Industry and Skills has the call. The Hon. D.G. PISONI House of Assembly Unley Minister for Industry and Skills The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley—Minister for Industry and Skills) (14:44): I thank the member for King, not just for the question but for her advocacy for her electorate and her interest in the future— Members interjecting: The Hon. D.G. PISONI House of Assembly The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —for young people— The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Ramsay and member for Kaurna are called to order. The Hon. D.G. PISONI House of Assembly The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —in the electorate of King. There has been a change in skills planning— Mr Malinauskas interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Leader! The Hon. D.G. PISONI House of Assembly The Hon. D.G. PISONI: There has been a change in skills planning here in South Australia since the election. Prior to the election, we know that in the last five years of the previous Labor government there was a 66 per cent drop off in the number of commencements in apprentices and trainees here in South Australia. But we have been out there since being elected talking to industry, engaging industry, asking them what they need. What do they need to employ South Australians? What skills are they lacking that we can help them develop to deliver job opportunities here in South Australia? I am pleased to announce, after consultation with the Australian Industry Group, we have developed a brand-new apprenticeship. It may not be widely known in circles, but I was an apprentice once and so I am very excited about this news. The Training and Skills Commission has approved a diploma of applied technologies and it will be added to the Traineeship and Apprenticeship— The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is warned. The Hon. D.G. PISONI House of Assembly The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —Pathways Schedule from next year. The Marshall government will add it to the Subsidised Training List in 2019. The Diploma of Applied Technologies will address the need for higher level vocational skills in defence and manufacturing—the very industries that are delivering opportunities here in South Australia. There is no doubt that we need to increase the number of skills here in South Australia for the new economy that is arriving, particularly through the defence industry and the higher and advanced manufacturing that we have. We suspect that the new Higher Apprenticeships Program will generate 100 engineering technician partnerships over the next four years. I have to thank the Training and Skills Commission for the work that they have been doing with the Ai Group, where they have brought together universities, training packages and industrial instruments to deliver a brand-new apprenticeship into South Australia to meet those needs. It will be focusing on emerging technologies, things such as mechanical engineering trades that will be needed for the study of robotic systems, cloud-based data and computer-aided design tools. This is very exciting for South Australia. This is a strong message to those businesses that want to participate in the massive opportunity that has been given to South Australia by Canberra. If they want to participate in that shipbuilding, they must come to South Australia because we will have the workforce trained in order to deliver the skills that they need.