Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a fractured speech we will have here; we have only a minute. Before question time I was discussing the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2007 and I will certainly be discussing it the next time we get back here. I was pointing out that the Australian technical colleges fill a void which has been left in place particularly by the state Labor governments where technical colleges went away from their traditional trade skills and, as a result, a dearth in skills pervades the entire Australian community. The Prime Minister has, quite rightly, made provision for quality upskilling of young people, particularly years 11 and 12 students at secondary schools. This provides an opportunity for them to connect with the businesses and workplaces in the community, to seek an apprenticeship and to use these transportable skills to provide themselves with better jobs into the future.

Debate interrupted.