Grievance Debate

Apprenticeships and Traineeships

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (15:11): Today, I rise to congratulate Rob Bonner on his recent success at the national Training Awards last week. The Outstanding Achievement in the VET and Skills Sector Award recognised Rob Bonner for his achievements in vocational education and training skills over the last 32 years. Rob is the Director of Operations and Strategy for the national Nursing and Midwifery Federation, SA branch.

I have had the pleasure of working with him during my time as the Minister for Skills to deliver increased skills training outcomes here in South Australia in the crucial areas of aged care and disability support. Rob's passion for training and education, particularly across the social care sector, is evident. He fully embraced the Marshall government's $200 million Skilling South Australia program and was able to implement many wonderful and innovative projects. Through Skilling South Australia's flexibility, he strengthened the workforce across the aged-care and disability sectors.

Training a skilled workforce to support Australia's growing demand for skilled aged-care and disability support staff remains a challenge for government and care providers. By 2058, the number of Australians aged 85 years and over will increase to more than 1.5 million people, making up 3.7 per cent of the Australian population, driving exponential growth in demand for home support and related relief. The Marshall government invested more than $75 million in publicly subsidised training in the health and community care sector training packages in the 2020-21 year alone.

This investment supported 15,000 training places. Only time will tell if this government's new free TAFE training model will be effective or if this policy will result in South Australia going back to being the worst performing state in the nation for the commencements of trainees and apprentices that Labor delivered over their last six years in office. Expertise and innovation across the training sector will be lost by excluding successful non-government training providers from this funding.

We took the training system from the worst performing under Labor to the best in less than four years. The latest data released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research confirms that South Australia under the Marshall government skills reforms led the percentage growth in a number of those taking up apprenticeships and traineeships and those in training in Australia.

The apprentices and trainees 2022 March quarterly report shows that over the life of the former Liberal government South Australia saw a 71.7 per cent increase in the number of apprentices and trainees in training, the largest increase in the country and far above the national increase of 39.5 per cent in the 12 months ending 31 March 2022 compared with the 12 months a year earlier.

The NCVER data also reveals that South Australia is a nation leader in apprenticeship and traineeship commencements, with a huge 89.7 per cent increase in 2022 compared with four years earlier. This is double the national increase of commencements of just 44.6 per cent. Skilling South Australia worked with industry and employers to support on-the-job training, enabling people to learn real skills while on the job and also getting paid. There are so many opportunities in the care sector and it was terrific that industry embraced paid caring pathways—something that did not exist before the Marshall government.

Rob's successes are numerous. He established the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation branch's registered training organisation known as the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Education Centre. Rob was deeply involved in the aged-care staffing, training and education in both VET and university programs. I thank Rob also for his valuable contribution as a volunteer on the Industry Skills Councils established by the Marshall government in 2019. Rob was also behind the success of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation training centre, winning the Training Provider of the Year Award in 2019 at the South Australian Training Awards.

Congratulations go to other South Australian winners and finalists at the 2022 national Training Awards recently, including Sakina Qambari, winner of the Australian School-based Apprentice or Trainee of the Year Award, Certificate III in Hospitality; Sarah Gritt, runner-up in the Trainee of the Year Award, Certificate IV in Training and Assessment; Angelina Dunnett, runner-up of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year Award, Certificate III in Community Services; and the Regional Anangu Services Aboriginal Corporation, Small Employer of the Year Award, receiving the gold medal.