David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to record that 40 new memberships have commenced across the beautiful Lyne electorate, helped in part by the Australian apprenticeship wage subsidy trial across regional Australia. There are 1,630 that have commenced because of this trial. I would like to compliment, though, the employers who have been training apprentices for many years—in particular: Donna Carrier of Bent On Food in Wingham, who has appointed Hannah Niksic to her first job as a chef apprentice, and Scott Kelly at Wingham Gourmet Meat, who has taken on Stephen Buttle as an apprentice butcher. I would like to thank Kathy Palmer from the Wingham newsagency next door who trained him in retail when he was at school. I would also like to thank Jarrah and Kristy Anchor, who have taken on James Eppingstall as apprentice mechanic in Taree, and Gary Byrne of Camden Haven Plumbing, who has appointed Rohan Davis as a plumber apprentice.

In the budget we have announced another incentive for additional identified skills. There is another $8,000 incentive for both the employer and the apprentice combined if you are on the skills list of carpenter, joiner, plumber, hairdresser, bricklayer, stonemason, plasterer, baker, pastry cook, wall or floor tiler, vehicle painter and arborist. For those who are looking to start an apprenticeship, this is extra on top of it. It is across Australia because we realise we have a skills shortage— (Time expired)