Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to associate myself with the contribution of the previous speaker. In fact, I've just been upstairs at a meeting with the Baha'i community, and I have friends in that community back in Darwin.

Tonight I want to talk about our amazing apprentices in the Northern Territory and all our amazing employers who give our apprentices a go. This evening in particular I want to acknowledge the nominees and winners of the TIO Automotive Apprentice of the Year Awards. There were too many to name right now, but among them were Trey Pattullo, the Indigenous Award recipient, as well as School Based Apprentice Award recipient, Darcy McIntyre from Darwin Land Rover, and Ryan Roman from Darwin Crash Repairs. I'd also mention Isaiah Strong from Palmerston Smash Repairs and Josh Bates from Palmerston Auto Clinic. There were 21 winners and many more nominees, and I congratulate each and every one of them.

In Darwin, Palmerston in my electorate and across the country, the Albanese government is delivering on its commitment to help give more Australians the skills and training that they need today and to harness the jobs and opportunities of the future. We are investing in our greatest resource, which is our people. We are honouring our election commitments to establish Jobs and Skills Australia, providing more fee-free TAFE and vocational education places and building a clean energy workforce. This is why, in this year's budget, we've contributed $550 million to a $1 billion, 12-month skills agreement that supports access to 180,000 fee-free TAFE and vocational education places from January next year—not far away.

We're investing an additional $12.9 million to establish Jobs and Skills Australia to tackle skills shortages. We've committed $62 million to deliver skilling for the clean energy workforce and to fund a clean energy capacity study. We've provided funds for a national study on adult literacy and numeracy and digital literacy skills, which are so important in this day and age with advancing technology. It's also important for increasing participation in education and skills training and employment opportunities for adults.

We're going to deliver the Australian Skills Guarantee to ensure one in 10 workers on major federally funded government projects are an apprentice, a trainee or a paid cadet. We're investing $50 million in a TAFE technology fund to ensure that facilities, workshops, labs and telehealth simulators across the country are cutting edge.

This budget was all about securing a more robust economy and tackling the lack of skilled workers that we have in our nation. Whether it's in the care sector, agriculture, hospitality, tourism, construction, technology or manufacturing, we need to deliver these skills at a time of acute worker and skills shortages. Australia is facing its biggest skills shortage in decades, and one that's obviously been made much worse by not only COVID-19 but, to be honest, 10 long years of policy neglect in this area.

To provide greater opportunity for Aussie kids and adults to have secure and rewarding employment, we have to reskill our workforce for the jobs of the future. The recent increase in occupations on the skills priority list is more evidence of the rapid increase in skills shortages and of why investment in skills and training is vital for our economy. That's why the government announced a $1 billion, 12-month skills agreement with the states and territories. The skills agreement is just the first stage of delivering on the skills commitments in our A Future Made in Australia Skills Plan. Whether it be in my electorate, in the north or around the country, we're working with the states and territories. I want to finally acknowledge the NT government's Paul Kirby, a minister and a previous apprentice himself.

House adjourned at 19:59