❓ Ms. Freeman questions the Minister for Training and Workforce Development about high unemployment in Mirrabooka, requesting specific strategies and expanded TAFE courses. The Minister responds by highlighting TAFE reforms and targeted programs.
AnsweredQoN 478Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE — STATE ELECTORATES
478. Ms J.M. FREEMAN to the Minister for
Training and Workforce Development:
I refer to a recent analysis of
unemployment for each state electorate—which we all received from the
library—that once again shows that the Mirrabooka electorate has the
highest unemployment rate of any electorate. This is an issue that I have been
raising in this house. There had been an increase of 32 per cent in the
unemployment rate in the electorate between December 2014 and December 2015, so
it has an unemployment rate of 17.2 per cent. It is an issue I have raised with
the minister numerous times.
(1) What specific
strategies has the minister put in place to combat this problem in the
Mirrabooka electorate, which is only getting worse in the electorate I represent?
(2) Will she
expand the courses offered at Balga TAFE so that residents in the Mirrabooka
electorate can have better access to the training they need for the employment
they need?
478. Ms J.M. FREEMAN to the Minister for
Training and Workforce Development:
I refer to a recent analysis of
unemployment for each state electorate—which we all received from the
library—that once again shows that the Mirrabooka electorate has the
highest unemployment rate of any electorate. This is an issue that I have been
raising in this house. There had been an increase of 32 per cent in the
unemployment rate in the electorate between December 2014 and December 2015, so
it has an unemployment rate of 17.2 per cent. It is an issue I have raised with
the minister numerous times.
(1) What specific
strategies has the minister put in place to combat this problem in the
Mirrabooka electorate, which is only getting worse in the electorate I represent?
(2) Will she
expand the courses offered at Balga TAFE so that residents in the Mirrabooka
electorate can have better access to the training they need for the employment
they need?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) As members in this
house will be well aware, I have been very committed to TAFE reform.
Mr
F.M. Logan interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cockburn, I call you to order for the second time.
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : Out of that TAFE reform project, I have collapsed 11
structures into five structures, freeing up $23 million a year into the sector,
and that has allowed me to hold fee increases to a maximum of four per cent.
Out of that TAFE reform, we will see in the north metropolitan region in
particular the ability for those TAFE campuses to offer a wider range of
courses to a broader range of students. That is the purpose of the reform.
Balga TAFE and other TAFEs do a terrific
job. We fund those TAFE campuses to deliver priority skills programs in over
600 courses that receive the maximum amount of state government funding to
ensure that the students going through places like the Balga campus are being trained
in qualifications that will lead to employment or further education.
Eighty-nine per cent of our students do that.
We also have our Aboriginal
workforce development centres that are specifically for Aboriginal people who
have been long-term unemployed or have never held a job. We have specific
programs that run in the north metropolitan area. The member brought one of
those up in this place previously. The member for Mirrabooka said that we had
cancelled a program that was dealing with disengaged youth and trying to get
them into training, which was incorrect. We have specifically targeted programs
for specific groups that we know are over�represented in the unemployment
figures.
Altogether, with the TAFE reform,
our Aboriginal workforce development centres, our workforce development centres
and the private training providers and other groups that we employ to
specifically target those at-risk groups, we are doing the best that we can.
house will be well aware, I have been very committed to TAFE reform.
Mr
F.M. Logan interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cockburn, I call you to order for the second time.
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : Out of that TAFE reform project, I have collapsed 11
structures into five structures, freeing up $23 million a year into the sector,
and that has allowed me to hold fee increases to a maximum of four per cent.
Out of that TAFE reform, we will see in the north metropolitan region in
particular the ability for those TAFE campuses to offer a wider range of
courses to a broader range of students. That is the purpose of the reform.
Balga TAFE and other TAFEs do a terrific
job. We fund those TAFE campuses to deliver priority skills programs in over
600 courses that receive the maximum amount of state government funding to
ensure that the students going through places like the Balga campus are being trained
in qualifications that will lead to employment or further education.
Eighty-nine per cent of our students do that.
We also have our Aboriginal
workforce development centres that are specifically for Aboriginal people who
have been long-term unemployed or have never held a job. We have specific
programs that run in the north metropolitan area. The member brought one of
those up in this place previously. The member for Mirrabooka said that we had
cancelled a program that was dealing with disengaged youth and trying to get
them into training, which was incorrect. We have specifically targeted programs
for specific groups that we know are over�represented in the unemployment
figures.
Altogether, with the TAFE reform,
our Aboriginal workforce development centres, our workforce development centres
and the private training providers and other groups that we employ to
specifically target those at-risk groups, we are doing the best that we can.
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