Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, my question is to the Minister for Industry. Will the minister informed the House how the government will support apprentices so that they can complete their training and start working?

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Murray for her question and for her very strong interest in improving the lot of young people in particular, but skills and apprenticeships in general, in the electorate of Murray and the 10,300 businesses that operate in that electorate. And based on the question from the member for Cunningham, and also a media report this morning, this is a question that needs to be answered.

This government is committed to giving young people a better future in a job. That is what we are all about, that is what we are committed to. We are not whingeing Willies on this side; we are committed to making sure that young people get a chance. We are investing in apprenticeships and trainees. We have seen the Tools for Your Trade program, which just gave $5,500 willy-nilly to young apprentices, spent on all sorts of things—and, yes, we had reported to us by the apprenticeships centres that that money was being spent on tattoos. It was spent on a range of things, and that is not the way to teach people to be responsible with their money.

The trade support loans will supply $20,000 over four years to an apprentice and then, once they earn over $51,000, they will repay the loan interest-free—absolutely interest-free. The loans will be indexed annually, but they are interest-free. This is the most generous of the young training support loans around, and I am proud that our government has handed it down.

We saw this morning in the newspaper an erroneous report, and I feel sorry for the journalist who wrote that because he believed a line served up to him by the Greens that it would take people 50 years to repay the loan. That is simply rubbish! It highlights the financial illiteracy of those people in that party. The average time to repay a loan of this size, bearing in mind that 20 per cent of the loan gets written off once the apprentice finishes their course, is going to be around five to six years. This is there to support apprentices. On a simple calculation of interest not paid, which I have to do for the Greens because I know they cannot work it out, this system is worth more than twice as much as Tools for Your Trade and is a great thing for apprentices.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order: the minister just referred to analysis as to how long it would take those debts to be paid back. It is not published, and I would ask him to table it.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask the minister: is he referring to a confidential minute?

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I was not. And I was not referring to analysis that is overly complicated.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You made it up.

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I did not make it up! That is based on what it would take to repay a loan under normal arrangements. If they want to get some advice, I suggest they go and get some financial advice because they certainly need it after the debt they left us!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.