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

I take it from the interjection of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition that she would prefer that people were not enrolled in courses and we went back to the days of idleness, neglect and tea drinking of the Howard government.

More than 5,000 people are already enrolled in courses. The first 500 graduates will be finished their training and ready to start work by June. There are hundreds of people signing up to take these places every week. And, encouragingly, this program is targeted at skills shortage areas. We have seen strong enrolment in crucial areas and—wait for it—more than 1,000 people enrolled in certificate III in children’s services.

Opposition members have spent a bit of time today feigning concern about child care. You cannot run child care and you cannot expand supply if you do not have childcare workers. That figure of more than 1,000 enrolled in certificate III in children’s services is very good news for anyone in this country who is concerned about the cost, quality, accessibility or affordability of child care—and people on this side of the House are.

In addition, we have seen nearly another 1,000 enrolments for aged-care qualifications, and members on this side of the House, frequently out in their electorates, would not have an issue raised with them more than people wanting to be assured that they can get access to aged care. The minister would know that one of the constraints on that is the lack of skilled workers. In that too, almost 1,000 people enrolled for aged-care qualifications is very good news.

It is also pleasing to see that these enrolments are at the certificate III level. The previous government’s voucher system was limited to certificate II. What all of the analysis is telling us, what business is telling us, what economists are telling us and what people know from being out and about and talking to those in the community is that we need to deepen skills in our community. We need more people studying and getting skills at the more senior level, particularly certificate III and above.

I am happy to see this take-up of these places. It is only just the start. It is the take-up of the first 20,000 of 630,000 places in total. This is the Rudd Labor government addressing years of inaction and neglect, and what we know is that this skills crisis is playing its part in terms of the current economy and exacerbating inflationary pressures. That is why it is clearly part of the government’s plan to fight inflation to address these skills shortages. A start was made in April, and some very pleasing results are being seen, particularly in areas where we are crucially short.

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