Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Skills and Training) | Hansard source

Thank you to my friend the member for Canberra for her question. Like everyone on this side of the House, she understands just how critical it is that we pull on the full range of levers to ensure that more homes are being built for Australians. This morning, the member for Canberra and I were with the Minister for Housing in the northern suburbs of Canberra to meet Caitlin. Caitlin is an electrician, and she's a small-business owner. Caitlin this year has taken on an apprentice, an amazing young woman called Poppy. Poppy's just 16, but she always knew that she wanted to undertake a trade. Caitlin and Poppy are both benefiting from the Albanese government's Key Apprenticeship Program: $10,000 for an apprentice, paid in instalments, backing apprentices like Poppy to start and, most importantly, to finish their apprenticeship. Caitlin benefits too, because she's amongst the thousands of small-business owners backed by an employer incentive as well.

We now have 25,000 new housing construction apprentices who've signed up to the Key Apprenticeship Program in just the first 10 months. That's 25,000 Australian apprentices who we are backing to build more homes in every corner of this country, including 9,300 more chippies, 5,300 more plumbers and 4,800 more sparkies like Poppy—and the member for Moore as well. More are signing up every week. We are providing targeted support through this program to businesses like Caitlin's to take on apprentices and to apprentices just like Poppy to become qualified tradies. On this side of the House, in the Albanese Labor government, we're helping Australians get trained to build more homes—building homes, not hamburgers, as was the case under the former government's BAC and CAC schemes.

The Leader of the Opposition has a lot to say when it comes to talking Australians down and seeking to divide—

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