Sharryn Jackson (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion. Will the minister detail the government’s progress in delivering new investment in vocational education and training during recent months and, further, are there any dangers to delivering a world-class VET system?

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

I thank the member for Hasluck for her question. We are addressing the consequences of more than a decade of neglect in our skills system, which has led to a skills crisis around the nation. And of course when skills are short, when the economy is running at capacity, that does put upwards pressure on inflation and interest rates. As a Western Australian member, the member for Hasluck would see this on display in her state—people crying out for skilled labour and unable to get it, and all as a consequence of more than a decade of neglect.

We have moved immediately to address skills shortages and the skills crisis through our Productivity Places Program, and I am pleased to report to the House that students con-tinue to take up these places. So far, around 42,000 people have enrolled in training through the program. These places started becoming available in April, and around 4,400 job seekers have finished their train-ing. So this is an urgent response to the skills crisis created by the neglect of the Liberal Party.

If we are going to have a skills system which meets the needs of the future then people need to be trained in first-class, 21st century facilities. A huge problem around the country is that people are being trained in facilities better suited to the fifties and sixties than to the 21st century. You cannot learn modern-day skills if you do not have good facilities and good equipment to learn them on. The government has moved to immediately invest in the capital of our training system so people can learn in modern facilities with modern equipment.

On 15 July, I was pleased to announce the successful schools for our first round of trades training centre funding; more than $90 million of funding was awarded to 34 projects involving 96 schools. I am also very pleased to inform the House that applications are open for the second round of funding. They opened on 23 July and will close on 17 October. There is $300 million available for allocation in that round—a huge investment in the training capacity of our schools.

But, beyond our schools, we need to renew our vocational education and training system throughout. We need to make sure that the places where adults train are up to the standards of the 21st century. I am asked about the dangers facing our desire to invest in the vocational education and training system. I regret to inform the House that there is a big danger facing new investment in vocational education and training. We, in the recent budget, created a new Education Investment Fund, an $11 billion fund to renew capital in higher education and vocational education and training. That fund is in part the recipient of moneys from the budget surplus. In particular, $5 billion for the fund is coming from the surpluses in 2007-08 and 2008-09. So now we have not only the spectre of the Liberal Party in government giving this nation a skills crisis but also the spectre of them punching a hole in the surplus that is going into the Education Investment Fund, amongst other funds, to meet the long-term needs of this nation.

The Liberal Party were never known for long-term planning; that is why we got the skills crisis. We are trying to renew our higher education and vocational education and training systems for the long term. In order to do that, our surpluses are going into nation-building funds, including the Education Investment Fund. In an act of economic vandalism, the Liberal Party, sitting opposite, are punching a hole in that surplus, and that means they are punching a hole in our ability to develop the productive capacity of our economy for the long term. What that means of course is that a huge hole in the budget surplus is going to cost this nation productive capacity in the long term. It is economic vandalism today and economic vandalism tomorrow from the Liberal Party. They are throwing the skills toolbox out the window for short-term politics, and Australians will judge them by it.