JMR with Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business Stuart Robert and Liberal candidate for Corangamite Stephanie Asher
The Morrison Government has delivered record levels of traineeships and apprenticeships across Corangamite as trade apprentices continue to surge to record high levels across the country – with 220,000 in training as of September.
New department program data demonstrates apprenticeships and trainees hit over 2,100 in Corangamite in September, the highest number on record.
Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business Stuart Robert said the milestone cemented the Morrison Government as the best friend tradies in Geelong and the Surf Coast have ever had.
‘Geelong and the surrounding region is in the midst of an apprenticeships boom, there has never been as many Australians having a crack at a trade apprenticeship than today,’ Mr Robert said.
‘Our record funding of $6.4 billion in skills and training funding alongside billions in wage supports secured a generation of Australian apprentices through the greatest shock since the Great Depression.’
‘With the economy firing again, hundreds of thousands of jobs available and billions of dollars of skills funding on the table this is a once in a generation opportunity for Aussies to get into a career that will last a lifetime.’
Liberal candidate for Corangamite Stephanie Asher welcomed the surge in trade apprentice numbers across the Corangamite electorate.
‘The record levels of traineeships and apprenticeships is testament to the Morrison Government’s investment in our economic recovery,’ Ms Asher said.
Senator for Victoria Sarah Henderson said the Morrison Government is putting in place record funding so our young people can build incredible careers and make Corangamite a place to live, work and raise a family.
‘Our regional economy is bouncing back from the pandemic, and thanks to this investment in skills training, more people are able to build a solid lifelong career,” Senator Henderson said.
Evidencing the positive impacts of the Morrison Government’s record funding of skills and training the number of Australians undertaking skills and training has surged with total in-training apprenticeships and traineeships for June 2021 at 347,266 up from 268,215 in June 2020.
Apprenticeship commencements have risen significantly across all states and territories since the Morrison Government’s $3.9 billion Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage support was introduced in October 2020 which has recently been backed in by the $716 million Completing Apprenticeships Commencements wage support.
This contrasts with the former Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Labor Government that cut incentives to employ apprentices nine times between 2011 and 2013, totalling $1.2 billion. National Centre for Vocational Education Research data also shows apprentices and trainees in-training collapsed by 22 per cent, or 111,320 through 2012-13.
Departmental evidence provided at Senate Estimates attributed this to the tightening of policy measures to address the widespread transfers of existing workers into traineeships and apprenticeships to gain easy access to government supports.