Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was once said by a prime minister in this chamber that if it's free it just means that somebody else is paying for it. Too many times we see this government failing Australians by giving away sugar hits—the sugar hits to disguise the failures of their policy settings. Australians can see right through them. Since coming to office, this government has proven one thing: they can manage neither the truth nor the economy. When it comes to sugar hits, those on the other side lead the charge with quick fixes to cover up their failures. We were told that there'd be a $275 reduction in electricity prices but, instead, we've seen a 32 per cent increase. We get a sugar hit. We get a rebate or something that comes down from the government. In fact, we've had two of them. We give sugar hits to the billionaires who go out and invest them in failed hydrogen projects right around the country. It's a sugar hit, but who's paying for it? Where is the money coming from when there's a sugar hit to the bureaucracy of an extra 77,000 bureaucrats? We gave sugar hits out to the HECS students. My daughters were great recipients there. If you're receiving the sugar, it's pretty good. It was a good policy for them, but it's not a good policy for those who have to pay it back. There's an extra $32,000 of extra debt that has to be paid back dumped onto every household. That's an extra $2,000 in interest since these guys walked through the door. It's a bitter pill to swallow.

I'd also encourage those on the other side, particularly the new Labor members: don't trust the speaking points that Labor give you. Don't trust them. Can I suggest that to you, as new members, particularly in the skills and training sector. The pre-eminent research body that captures the data for skills and apprenticeships is the National Centre for Vocational Education Research. When we left office, there were over 412,000 skilled apprentices in the workforce. Today, there are 100,000 fewer. These guys are failing the system. The same research centre, yesterday, produced additional data to say that in the twelve-month period between 2023 and 2024, under these guys' watch—and they'll continue to say it's our fault—there are 32,000 fewer apprentices. They are failing the country. They are failing the skills sector.