Skills Training

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:24): My question is to the Minister for Innovation and Skills. Can the minister update the house on the Marshall Liberal government's nation-leading skills and training record and how we are delivering more opportunities for young South Australians?

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley—Minister for Innovation and Skills) (14:25): I am very happy to do that. I thank the member for Colton for his question and also his interest in this matter.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: Just this month, the NCVER released the increases in the number of apprentices and trainees here in South Australia for the first three quarters—

The Hon. A. Piccolo interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Light!

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —of 2019, a 17.1 per cent increase in South Australia compared with the same period a year earlier. What was the national increase? It was 2.7 per cent. We have a nation-leading increase in skills training here in South Australia. I make the point that each and every one of those apprentices and trainees is paid a salary to learn. That's one of the beauties of the vocational education system. These are not the government's figures, these are not my figures, these are national figures from the NCVER.

I have some other very encouraging figures about the work we undertook when we came to office, which is now paying off. Remember the wreck that skills training was in South Australia under those opposite? A 66 per cent drop in the number of apprentices and trainees since 2012. TAFE was in disarray, failing every random audit from ASQA. We had a board with a CE who jumped before he was pushed. There were two investigations into the conduct of the management of TAFE.

What do we have in contrast here in South Australia? We are nation leading in the number of apprentices and trainees in the 25 to 44 age bracket—a 15.9 per cent increase. What has happened nationally—6.8 per cent. The trainees and apprentices 45 years and over, 13.6 per cent and 7.1 per cent nationally—nearly double what is happening at a national level.

I congratulate my colleague the Minister for Education because the number of apprentices and trainees at school has increased by 55 per cent. What has happened nationally? It has dived, a negative 9.1 per cent. These things are happening in South Australia because we reset the dial when we came to office. We promised more money for skills training and we are delivering more money for skills training.

A few days before these NCVER figures came out, we learnt of the Report on Government Services. For the first full year of the Marshall Liberal government, $54 million extra was spent by the state government on skills training here in South Australia compared with the member for West Torrens' budget one year earlier—a $54 million or 38.4 per cent increase. This is nation leading. It was the highest increase in state funding in the nation on percentage points.

We have also seen over the last 12 months a growth of full-time students in South Australia, 8½ thousand more full-time students in South Australia than there were 12 months earlier. Why is that happening? Because we are seeing a 14 per cent growth in the number of VET students here in South Australia outside of apprenticeships and traineeships because we are funding VET training in South Australia because we know how important it is to make sure that our workforce has the skills that industry needs to grow and deliver jobs here in South Australia.