Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks to Senator Walker, who has already demonstrated what a strong force for young Australians she has been as senator for South Australia. After a decade of neglect from the Liberals, Australia had the second-worst skills shortage in all advanced economies. Since coming to office, the Albanese Labor government hasn't wasted a day in helping Australians to get the skills they want for the jobs we need to fill. That's why we introduced the Key Apprenticeship Program, which pays $10,000 in incentives to new apprentices in the housing and clean energy sectors. Nearly 30,000 Australians have signed up for apprenticeships under the program, and these are the chippies, plumbers, brickies and sparkies we need to build Australian homes and deliver the clean-energy transition.

What we learned over the weekend is that this key program, which is helping provide the tradies needed to build the homes our country needs, is one the coalition want to cut. In her first contribution as the new shadow minister for skills and training, Senator Nampijinpa Price told Josh Martin from Channel 7 that the opposition would scrap this vital scheme. They want to scrap the program that is training Australians to become tradies. It seems—