Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Really, Prime Minister. I accept that the Leader of the Opposition is a man of the world and he probably understands the merit of a manicure. He probably particularly understands the merit of a manicure in a party room that is beset by claws that are unsheathed and out. But I would ask the Leader of the Opposition and those that sit on the opposition front benches: when in government, how did they come to the conclusion that with skill shortages besetting the Australian economy the most important thing we needed was 1,232 more Australians qualified to provide manicures and 700 more Australians qualified to apply make-up and cosmetics—a total cost of $3 million for the manicures and $1.5 million for the make-up and cosmetics? This was their investment in training.

Whilst the mining sector and the construction sector were calling out for skilled workers, you might not have been able to get a house built but you could always go down to the beauty parlour and make yourself feel better about it. That was their contribution to training in this nation—hardly meeting the needs of working families, who need the real skill shortages in this economy fixed.

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