Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Van for the question. Congratulations to Australians for reaching that 70 per cent milestone. Again, it shows that we're all working together on the pathway well and truly out of COVID-19.

Vocational education and training is something that employers are looking for in prospective employees. It ensures that they are work ready from day one. The Morrison government are well and truly investing in a world-class vocational education and training system. Our government, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, invested approximately $6 billion in skills funding. This was the largest single investment ever to occur in vocational education and training in Australia. As a government, we recognise the benefits of vocational education and training, and that is why we are now investing an additional $6.4 billion over the 2021-22 financial year. So what we now see from the Morrison government is an investment of over $12 billion in skills funding since the start of the pandemic.

What this means is that, whilst other countries have actually shed their apprentice workforces, what we have seen in Australia, particularly because of the successful Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements program that we put in place, is that the number of new apprentices in Australia has increased by 141.5 per cent year on year. That is because of the investments that the Morrison coalition government has put in place to ensure that we were helping those businesses who wanted to keep their apprentices keep them on but also that those businesses who wanted to bring on apprentices had the right policies in place to do that. (Time expired)