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

It's reminiscent of Labor's Australia 2020 Summit that it held in 2008: a lot of hype, a lot of talk, a lot of waxing lyrical by the Labor movement and the big end of town. The member for Moreton was probably in there getting his photo taken for five minutes and then back out again. We know what some members of the Labor Party were doing at that summit!

I note with some disappointment that there weren't many local service providers invited. In fact, I wrote to the Treasurer and I put forward STEPS Group Australia and Your Employment Solutions, two great businesses in my electorate. I wrote to the Treasurer and I said, 'If you want two small local businesses that do great work in the disability sector, you should have these guys at the table.' There was no response. If they were a union, they'd quite likely have been there. The summit was a summit of unions. The summit did not take into account the many great contributions that private service training providers like STEPS and Your Employment Solutions provide.

I want to finish by saying that, on this side of the House, we are absolutely committed to ensuring that Australians continue to receive good quality skills and training. That's what we have done over the last nine years and we will hold this government to account to do the same.

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