Apprentices and Trainees

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:34): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Employment, Education and Skills a question relating to apprentice and trainee commencements.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Data from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research released this week showed that South Australia recorded a 21.5 per cent decline in apprentice and trainee commencements over the 12 months ending June 2014 compared to the previous 12 months. This equates to the lowest number of commencements in South Australia since 2009. Despite numerous federal government incentives of up to $3,000 on offer for employers and businesses, declining trainee apprenticeship commencements put South Australia well behind other states.

My question to the minister is: can the minister explain why South Australia has had a 21.5 per cent decline in apprentice and trainee commencements over the 12 months ending June 2014 compared with the previous 12 months, while Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory have all shown increases in apprentice and trainee commencements over the same period?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:35): I thank the honourable member for his question and, indeed, this is yet another example of the Liberal opposition coming into this place, day after day, wanting to talk down South Australia, wanting to create doom and gloom, and wanting to shake business confidence, and we see this as yet another example.

The recent NCVER June quarter report showed a mixed result for South Australia, and what the Hon. Stephen Wade neglects to mention is that the data shows very pleasingly that South Australia had the highest number on record of completions in the technical and trade workers occupational group—very selective in the way they look at these reports. They go on and on about completion so here we finally produce an extremely good result and what do we hear? The bit of the report that is all doom and gloom.

We also see that the report shows that certificate II qualifications also recorded rises and they were bucking the national trend, I was very pleased to see, with in-training increasing by 9.6 per cent. What was disappointing to see was that both the commencement rates and the in-service rates for apprentices and trainees dropped for South Australia. It is not surprising, given that every jurisdiction throughout the nation dropped as well. It is not surprising, given that the fall in apprenticeships and trainee activity no doubt has been influenced by the commonwealth government's decision from July 2012 to stop incentive payments for existing workers, and we know that this has had a significant impact on apprenticeship and trainee uptake.

Nationally, the commonwealth has ripped out $1 billion around the nation; this is the federal liberal government. One billion dollars has been removed from Australian apprenticeship incentive programs over the four years until 2016, and the Hon. Stephen Wade has the audacity to come into this house and ask me why our figures are down.

I challenge him: what on earth has he done about contacting his federal Liberal colleagues to insist that the federal government reintroduce these billion dollars' worth of initiatives? The impact on South Australia: $95 million worth of Liberal federal government incentives being removed from our apprentices and trainees. As I said, the Hon. Stephen Wade has the audacity to come into this place and ask me why our numbers are down. The other thing is that it was also—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Stephens, the minister has the floor.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —interesting to note that the decline also pretty much mirrors our employment activity during that time. It was a time in South Australia when our employment figures were pretty much at their lowest. It is very pleasing to see that we have reversed that trend. In the last couple of months at least we have seen improvements in our employment rates here in South Australia, and we see a number of other really important economic signals of improvement on the horizon. We see new business investments up.

We see new capital expenditure 14 per cent higher than a year ago. We see record resource production and, as I have alluded to, we have seen some pleasing trends in employment activity. As I said, I challenge the honourable member to confront his Liberal federal colleagues and insist on the return of those incentive payments.

The PRESIDENT: Supplementary, the Hon. Mr Wade.