Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

It is true that there are some skills shortages in some parts of the economy. That is because the economy is running so strongly that it is putting demand on labour. It is because so many people are in employment and unemployment is so low. There was never a skills shortage problem when Labor was in office, because unemployment was above 10 per cent. Of course there were no skills shortages when Labor was in office. There are now, because of the strength of our economy and low unemployment.