THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING
MEMBER FOR SYDNEY

HEARD THE LIBERALS TALKING ABOUT TRADIES AND APPRENTICESHIPS?

Remember this -

Australia has a skills crisis: there’s a national shortage of tradies, but Scott Morrison has cut funding to TAFE and training, and let apprentice numbers fall off a cliff.

If the Liberals don’t do something serious to fix the skills crisis they have created, we could be looking at the extinction of the Australian tradie.

Under the Liberals, there are 150,000 fewer apprentices and trainees, and a shortage of workers in critical services including plumbing, carpentry, hairdressing, and motor mechanics.

The number of Australians doing an apprenticeship or traineeship is lower today than it was a decade ago.

There are more people dropping out of apprenticeships and traineeships than finishing them.

The Liberals have slashed $3 billion from TAFE and training.

The Australian Industry Group says 75 per cent of businesses surveyed are struggling to find the qualified workers they need.

While businesses are crying out for more trained staff, there are about 1.8 million Australians who are unemployed or under-employed.

Why isn’t Scott Morrison training these people for jobs in industries where there’s a shortage of workers? Because the Liberals have cut funding to TAFE and training.

By locking Australians out of TAFE and training, the Liberals are locking Australians out of jobs.

By presiding over a skills crisis, the Liberals are holding Australian businesses back.

Australians deserves excellent TAFEs and universities - the Liberals have gutted both.



SUNDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER 2019