Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Those opposite are calling out ‘four’—yes, that is four colleges; the Labor Party promised zero. At the end of it, this government’s commitment to vocational and technical education has seen funding increase by 88.3 per cent since 1996. In real terms, that is a record $2.5 billion this financial year compared to the measly $1.07 billion in 1995. The number of new apprentices in training has increased by 172 per cent, from 143,795 in 1995 to 391,200 as at the end of June last year. The member for Kingston will be interested to know that in his electorate 74 apprentices are eligible today for the Tools for your Trade initiative. The member for Brand would probably want to know—because he says he does not know of any—there are 218 in his electorate. In the member for Kingston’s electorate there has been a 367 per cent increase in the number of apprentices in training since 1996.

This is evidence that the Australian business community, who are the ones who create apprenticeships, are driving the economy further by taking that investment and are making certain that Australia’s future and the future strength of our economy is assured by this investment in training.

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