Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Fifield for this opportunity to talk about the government’s training programs, in particular the Productivity Places Program. I say from the outset that the government makes no absolutely apologies for matching skills and training with the jobs that are actually there. That is especially the case with Productivity Places. We are trying to line them up with children’s services, aged care and construction—the jobs that are there right now in the community. As Senator Fifield knows, it is only early days for the PPP. From April 2008 until 10 September 2009, there have been 111,897 commencements in PPP—that is 111,897 Australians that now or in the very near future will have new skills and be ready to assist industry in building our economic recovery. Of these, 42,504 were referred by employment service providers and are already completing their training. From these completions, almost 7½ thousand have achieved an employment outcome already. PPP is only one facet of what the government is doing in training, and it is only a small facet. A week and a half ago, I announced round 1 of the Jobs Fund—6,000 jobs. Nothing is more important to training than actually having the jobs in the sector, jobs in industry, and that is what the Jobs Fund is about. (Time expired)