John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

the New South Wales Department of Fair Trading, which may require a further formal assessment and additional costs. Trade Recognition Australia can consider an electrician from the United Kingdom to be competent but, when he or she arrives here, they have to resit a trade test which can take up to eight months and they cannot work in the meantime. A hairdresser who has gained a hairdressing qualification from a private college in Victoria can get a job in London but not in Western Australia. These are some of the barriers to training opportunities. But the worst barrier of all is the opposition in New South Wales and Western Australia. They are states with which my opposite number is very familiar. The existence of school based apprenticeships in those two states is standing in the way of training opportunities for young Australians. They ought to be swept away, and I hope the Leader of the Opposition joins me in urging the Premier of New South Wales and the Premier of Western Australia to improve the training opportunities for young Australians in those two states.

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