Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There's never been a more important time in Australian modern day history to continue this government's commitment to reforming the vocational education and training sector. I've spoken often in this place and at length about the importance of the VET sector. But, as we navigate these choppy COVID-19 waters, we must maintain our focus and our commitment to VET, and that is precisely what this bill will do. The Morrison government understands well the importance of the VET sector. The political leadership exhibited by both the senior responsible minister, Senator Cash, and the assistant minister, the member for Swan, who was himself once an electrician, or what is colloquially known as a sparky—the member for Swan completed his own apprenticeship all those many years ago when one wonders whether there was, in fact, electricity around!

But I digress. The member for Swan is committed to VET, as is Senator Cash and as are all members and senators who sit on the government benches. The member for Swan has walked the talk; he is the real deal when it comes to passion for the VET sector—just like the Minister for Water, Resources and Northern Australia. He too is an electrician, having completed an apprenticeship and then going on to complete a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering. So too the member for Nicholls and the Minister for Aged Care, Youth and Support, Senator Colbeck. They both completed carpentry apprenticeships, as did I.

The ranks of government members on both the front and backbenches are replete with ex-blue-collar workers, or what many refer to today as 'tradies'. But, once a tradie always tradie. I'm still a registered builder—a proud builder—who likes nothing more than pulling the nail bag on and doing a few jobs around the house, and even helping out on community projects when time permits. That's not an invitation to have me around to your place, Mr Deputy Speaker! My point is this: members and senators on the government benches understand the importance of the VET sector—not from an academic or an economic textbook, or from some ideological basis, but from a real-world lived experience; from getting dirt under one's fingernails, from working all day in the hot sun and the cold wind and rain, and then going home and doing the books to pay one's suppliers, employees and subbies.

Whilst I want to acknowledge that this bill will pass with the support of those opposite—and I thank them for that—it's that lived experience that those opposite will never understand because they haven't walked a mile in the shoes of someone who is VET-sector trained. For all the talk from those opposite of purporting to stand up for the workers, how many of those opposite have actually done an apprenticeship, a traineeship or worked as tradies? Silence. Gone are the days of old, when the ALP's ranks were replete with blue-collar workers! Now it seems that Labor will do almost anything to bury what was once its heartland, its support base. Inconceivably, in the lead-up to the last election—and still—Labor believed that its miners should not be working in those jobs anymore. It seeks to close down coalmines and to prevent new coalmines from opening. In fact, it seems to want to prevent any type of mine from opening up.

Australian workers know that the $380 billion worth of additional taxes Labor took to the last election, and which still remain Labor policy today, would have killed and will kill the Australian economy if ever they get a chance to form government again. Australian workers are not mugs; they understood Labor's position in the lead-up to last year's election. When I stood on pre-poll for three weeks and on election day, I saw the wearers of high-vis—tradies—time after time making a beeline to me as the LNP candidate because they knew that we had worker-friendly policies, unlike those opposite.

Those opposite seem incapable of understanding that it is a tried and proven political maxim that you never forget your base. Not only have Labor forgotten their base but they have totally and utterly abandoned it. When a political party like the ALP has been taken over by political apparatchiks and professional trade unionists who do not understand the values of those it purports to represent then that voter base will simply vote with its feet. And as we've seen, that is just what many blue-collar workers and what many tradies are doing. Why? Because the Labor Party has abandoned them in favour of the cultural inner-city elites.

And do you know the really sad thing, Mr Deputy Speaker McVeigh? It's that they just don't get it. Labor just don't get it. They don't understand; they blame everyone else but themselves and their anti-business, anti-individual, reckless, green-ideological-groupthink policies. One wonders why organisations like the CFMMEU continue to support the ALP. It can't be about values or political beliefs, unless of course the CFMMEU have themselves sold out their own members. Unions like the CFMMEU continue to donate millions of dollars to the ALP each and every year. Perhaps that's why the ALP cannot break its umbilical cord with the CFMMEU: they both need each other. But it's not about workers, apprentices or trainees, it's about money, power and greed. The more money a union donates to the ALP, the more power it has over the ALP. Mr Deputy Speaker, do you recall when the Leader of the Opposition said that he would drive the secretary of the Victorian branch of the CFMMEU, John Setka, from his position? Guess what? Twelve months later John Setka is still the secretary of the Victorian branch of the CFMMEU.

I want to return to the significance of this bill to the VET sector. I want to speak to the apprentices and trainees out there who may be listening on their way home from building sites, or they may be in factories or workplaces around the country; perhaps they're still on building sites, although it's getting a bit late in the day. I want you apprentices and trainees to know that this Liberal-National government has your back. We have your back because we know and understand the importance of apprenticeships and traineeships, because many government members were once just like you. We've walked in your shoes. We've experienced what you are experiencing today. We understand that you may be nervous about your job. We understand that you may be concerned about what will happen to your future. How will you finish your apprenticeship or traineeship in these difficult times? I distinctly remember asking myself these questions during my own carpentry apprenticeship, when we endured Paul Keating's 'recession we had to have'. I recall sitting around at smoko on a building site, listening to my boss telling us that things were about to get very tough and that work would likely dry up for many. Thankfully, it didn't for us, and I was able to complete my apprenticeship. But I can hear my boss saying, like it was yesterday, that during a recession, 'cash would be king'. Peter Mahony, you were right then and you're still right now.

This Liberal-National government understands the importance of looking after apprentices and trainees. That's why the government, very early on in its COVID response, offered to pay 50 per cent of the wages of apprentices and trainees, an arrangement which has resulted in many employers keeping their apprentices and trainees. That was because we know that when this is over it's so important to the future of this country that that relationship is maintained. This 50 per cent wage subsidy runs up to 30 September. As at 30 April, claims for 15,562 apprentices and trainees have been finalised to assist 9,518 employers, resulting in a total of $72.7 million in payments. This program is part of the federal government's $1.3 billion Supporting Apprentices and Trainees initiative and it is saving jobs.

I do agree with the member for Cooper and some of those opposite, that there are simply not enough apprentices and trainees to meet the usual demand of Australian industry. Now, that demand may have been somewhat ameliorated during this health and financial crisis we are in, but when the economy fires again—and it will—we are going to need skilled tradespeople, and you can't have skilled tradespeople without apprentices and trainees. You can't have them if they are not formally trained in the VET sector. You can't just add water to a labourer and get a tradesperson. You need that formal education through the VET sector to get someone to that level.

Similarly, for these same reasons, the government introduced the JobKeeper program, which sees eligible employers receive $1,500 a fortnight for eligible employees to maintain that relationship during this crisis. That's at an estimated cost of $70 billion. It's the largest government response to an economic crisis in our history, and it is just part of the government's approach to maintaining our economy, at a cost of some $180 billion.

Today, we heard the Prime Minister announce the infrastructure program that will be rolled out. We will need more trainees and apprentices for the work that is about to be rolled out. Similarly, the government recently announced its HomeBuilder package. We've seen one housing estate on the Sunshine Coast, in my electorate, sell out in one day. The developers were attributing the fact that they sold out the entire estate in one day to the HomeBuilder program.

I want to say to mums and dads out there who may be talking to their kids about a future as a tradie: not every kid should go to university.

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