Coalition promises apprenticeship bonuses
Shadow Minister for Skills Development and Training Don Page today announced the NSW Liberal/Nationals Coalition would provide apprentices with two $500 cash bonuses during their training to help address the skills shortage.
Mr Page said under the cash incentive scheme the NSW Coalition would provide apprentices with a bonus at the completion of their first and third years of training.
“This will offset some of the costs associated with becoming a tradesperson and will help address the high non-completion rate for apprenticeships, currently at 41 per cent in NSW,” Mr Page said.
The Liberal/Nationals Coalition plan to lift skill levels in NSW also includes:
Introducing standard three-year competency based apprenticeships;
Exempting employers from paying the cost of WorkCover premiums for apprentices;
Extending Vocational Education and Training (VET) permanently to Year 9 and 10 students;
An information campaign in high schools to lift the value attached to skilled workers;
Targeted defence industry skills development to foster, maths, science and engineering opportunities;
A formal bid to host the 2013 World Skills ‘Skills Olympics’ in NSW;
Developing a closer relationship between TAFE NSW and business; and
Directly appointing business and industry representatives to the NSW Skills Council
“Over the last 12 years the Iemma-Costa Labor Government has failed to encourage the training of apprentices and trainees in NSW,” Mr Page said.
“As a result NSW apprenticeship completion rates have dropped to the second worst of any Australian State or Territory, with completions falling to just 45 per cent between 2002-2005.
“Currently it is an unacceptably low 41 per cent.
“The NSW Labor Government has also significantly cut TAFE’s funding per annual student hour, with the Auditor General’s Report to Parliament 2006 revealing funding in TAFE per student hour had dropped from $15.60 in 2000 to $13.70 in 2005.
“Labor has had long enough to adequately address the skills shortage in this State, yet we are seeing increasingly worse apprenticeship completion rates and reduced funding for TAFE.”
