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

Yes, I do. In relation to this, I certainly do give credit where it is due and deliver criticism where it is deserved. On this issue the union movement is holding back training opportunities for young Australians. As a result of that I have written to both the Premier of New South Wales and the Premier of Western Australia urging them to use the authority of their office to make sure that these barriers against school based apprenticeships are removed.

If anybody imagines that the imperfections between the various states of Australia do not produce absurdities, let me remind the House of some of the absurdities that exist in the very disuniform, dysfunctional training system between the various states. For example, a qualified carpenter cannot move from the ACT to New South Wales—and that is not very far—without having to get a licence from—

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