Housing Roadmap

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:19): My question is to the Premier. How many additional construction apprentices and trainees have commenced since the release of the Housing Roadmap?

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills) (14:19): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for this question. There is no doubt with the very ambitious targets that this government has in terms of new land release and new homes that we need an enormous uplift in apprentices as well, and that includes in all those traditional trades.

There are couple of challenges there, of course, in a very strong economy like the one South Australia has now, which is a good thing. There are a lot of options out there for young people. That is one of the things I say to high school students. In fact, I was with the member for King yesterday at Salisbury East High School, talking to them about what a good time it is to be looking for work in South Australia because of all the different opportunities that are available to them. But the truth is that more than ever before we need to make sure that we are really focused on making sure that we get growth in the areas where the state needs it most. Predominantly, a lot of the growth that we need is in VET areas, and we hear the Premier speak about that very regularly.

The SPEAKER: Deputy Leader.

Mr TEAGUE: It is a point of order under standing order 98(a). The minister has had a decent stretch now and I bring the minster to the question. It is straightforward: how many additional construction workers have commenced since—

The SPEAKER: I think you have had enough time. I don't appreciate you interrupting when people are trying to tell a story and give an answer, and that's what is happening here. He is not contravening the standing orders, and we will continue to listen to the answer. Every time, at the one-minute mark or before, you get up and start interrupting someone who is giving an answer. They are giving an answer. They have four minutes to give the answer.

The Hon. B.I. BOYER: Thank you very much for your protection, Mr Speaker, I appreciate it. I am very happy to talk on this subject. I think we are hearing those opposite trying to suggest that this is a really uncomfortable topic in some way for this government. Let's have a look at some of the things this government has done. There is a National Skills Agreement with an uplift of almost $700 million over and above what this state would have had available to it had we not signed that agreement. My predecessor could not get one of these signed in the whole four years he was in the role. There are five new technical colleges, a number of those focusing—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. B.I. BOYER: He did not sign a skills agreement. You didn't get it done. Four years you sat on your hands and you did not get it done. Another mess of yours that we have to clean up, that's what it is. Five technical colleges, two in regional parts of the state that include accommodation for young people to come there, which was focused a lot on the kinds of trades that the Leader of the Opposition just asked about—traditional trades like construction, chippies, and sparkies. We are focusing on growth in these areas, and the truth is that we are seeing growth in these areas.

Let's have a look at the legacy of the last government which signed what appeared to be a fantastic agreement with the federal government around wage subsidies for trainees and apprentices. It looked fantastic, despite the fact that they fell 5,000 places short of their 20,000 target. Where did we see the growth? It looked good in a headline on a media release, but where did we see the growth? Hundreds of percentage growth in areas like personal fitness. That is where we saw the growth under you guys. You didn't get the growth where it was needed at all.

We have come in and in less than 12 months we will have five technical colleges open in the state that are focusing on this. A National Skills Agreement, $700 million extra to subsidise training places, fee-free TAFE—we are having growth in these areas, including the ones you just asked about. It is growing and it is growing in the areas where we actually need it.

Are fitness instructors important? I think they have an important place but they are not going to build homes. You might get fit on the site, that's true, but personal fitness instructors are not what we need to build these new homes. We have taken a methodical approach in terms of where we spend taxpayers' money, and the money that we have signed on to with the federal government to make sure we actually get growth in apprentices in the areas where we need them. That is absolutely the opposite to what we saw in the four years of the previous government.