Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Resources and Energy and Minister for Tourism. How is the government assisting to train workers around Biloela to take advantage of the job opportunities presented by the resources boom?

Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Resources and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Capricornia for her question. She is a person who has had a long-term commitment to education and training. In that context, coming from a resource-rich region, she understands the importance of government investing in a practical way in apprenticeship training. She therefore has been a long-time supporter of the government’s apprenticeships in schools program related to the development of our trade in schools initiative. But the House is also well aware that we as a nation are under a lot of pressure at the moment because of a huge pipeline investment in our resources sector in Australia. Since May alone, $24 billion has been invested in new projects in Australia. One of those key projects is, for example, the British Gas coal seam methane project in Central Queensland, a single investment of $15 billion.

For us as a nation, the real priorities there are how we lift productivity. Central to lifting productivity is investment in key initiatives such as infrastructure—but also apprenticeships and education. I am therefore delighted to indicate to the House that the government, having opened in October this year stage 1 of the Biloela apprenticeships centre, at a cost of $1.5 million, is now in a position to work with the Gladstone Area Group Apprentices company to secure the completion of this very important local apprenticeships centre with the commitment of an additional million dollars.

In terms of this area, I indicate that, with respect to the British Gas project alone, we are talking about 5,000 jobs during construction and around 1,000 permanent jobs in the region with the operation of the LNG processing plant at Gladstone. But, from the point of view of local parents—and I spoke to some of these parents and the young apprentices when I visited Biloela not that long ago—this apprenticeship centre is so important to them. It means that they are keeping their children in the local region, in local high-skill apprenticeship training. It also overcomes some of the fears of those parents with respect to what has been a long-term issue of travelling long distances to areas such as Gladstone, Brisbane, Mackay or Rockhampton for apprenticeship training. Doing it locally is important to parents; it is also important to the young men and women whom I visited and discussed these issues with during my recent discussions at Biloela.

So I simply say that the Banana Engineering Skills Training Centre, which will now go forward at Biloela with the support of the Gladstone Area Group Apprentices Ltd company, is a very important local initiative. It shows the benefit of government investing in education and training. It shows how these investments can add to Australia’s productivity and, in doing so, ensure that we maintain our competitiveness and attract more investment to Australia. It is good for industry and it is good for young men and women wanting to explore high-skilled apprenticeship and trade opportunities in Central Queensland.