❓ Hon. Ljiljanna Ravlich questions the Minister for Training and Workforce Development on why the government is short of its target for apprentices and trainees. The Minister acknowledges the shortfall but highlights the overall increase in training numbers and efforts to address skills shortages.
AnsweredQoN 228Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
APPRENTICES AND TRAINEES — NUMBERS
228. Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH to the Minister for Training and
Workforce Development:
On 6 February 2010 —
Hon Peter Collier : Yes!
Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH : Listen, because it is without notice, and
write it down!
Several members interjected.
The PRESIDENT : Order! Let us listen so we
can hear it.
Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH : On 6 February 2010, the minister set a
target of 47 100 apprentices and trainees in training by 2012. That is from the
media statement of Saturday, 6 February 2010. The number of people in training
in WA, however, according to the latest publication from the National Centre
for Vocational Education Research is 38 800, meaning that the minister is 8 300
short of his own target. Can the minister explain why he is 8 300 short of his
own self-set target?
228. Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH to the Minister for Training and
Workforce Development:
On 6 February 2010 —
Hon Peter Collier : Yes!
Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH : Listen, because it is without notice, and
write it down!
Several members interjected.
The PRESIDENT : Order! Let us listen so we
can hear it.
Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH : On 6 February 2010, the minister set a
target of 47 100 apprentices and trainees in training by 2012. That is from the
media statement of Saturday, 6 February 2010. The number of people in training
in WA, however, according to the latest publication from the National Centre
for Vocational Education Research is 38 800, meaning that the minister is 8 300
short of his own target. Can the minister explain why he is 8 300 short of his
own self-set target?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the honourable member for the question. I have been
salivating at the prospect of having a question without notice on training for
so long and, unfortunately, it is right at the end of question time, so I do
not want to take up too much time! What I will say is that I have an open
invitation to Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich to
ask me a question every single day for the rest of the year because I would
love to talk about training ad infinitum, constantly, without any question
whatsoever because training is in a good situation; we have more people in
training in Western Australia than ever before in the history of the state.
Let us have a look
at apprenticeships. I do not know where the honourable member got her figures
from. We are sitting at about 40 000 at the moment —
Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich interjected.
The PRESIDENT : Order! We have had the
question, now we have the answer. That is the way it works here, one at a time.
Hon PETER COLLIER : She is being very unruly, Mr President, I
would really appreciate it if you would discipline her severely!
The PRESIDENT : Let me judge that; you just answer the
question.
Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich : How come you're 8 300 short?
Hon PETER COLLIER : See! I am trying to get a word in.
I will very quickly explain a couple of things with regard to training.
I really want the honourable member to ask me this question again in the very
first question of question time so that I have a bit of time. At this stage, we
have more people in training than ever before in the history of this state. One
of the biggest issues we have at the moment is the retention of apprentices.
What happened, certainly from, say, 2008 when we were at the peak of the boom,
is we had a significant uptake in apprenticeships. A lot of those
apprenticeships have now dropped off. As a result of the global financial
crisis, the uptake of apprenticeships, logically, nationally declined and so we
saw a decline. We have worked fastidiously over the past three years to ensure
that that uptake increases and we will continue to do so. We are working
hand-in-hand with industry to ensure that that occurs. Having said all that, we
had a significant increase in traineeships—certificate IV and above—over
the past three years. There has been a massive increase. In a very generic
sense in terms of training, we have more people—I repeat, more people—in
training now than ever before in the history of Western Australia.
We will not meet the
target of 47 000; I take that on the chin. We are not going to meet it, I
promise the member.
Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich interjected.
Hon PETER COLLIER : It is not a failure at all. What I am
saying is that we are always going to have a bit of an ambit claim; we want to
put that target up there so we can—we are facing the prospect of a
skills shortage in Western Australia by 2015 of around 76 000—make sure
that we do all that we possibly can for training. As I said, we have done an
enormous amount in the past three years in terms of our state training
providers, our industry training councils and our workforce development
centres. Our Aboriginal workforce development centres throughout Western
Australia are working magnificently; we have had a 14 per cent increase in
Aboriginal training alone. They have been working magnificently.
Suffice to say, I am
going to have to cut it short. I really would like to go on, but training is in
very, very healthy hands and I am really looking forward to Tuesday week when I
get asked another question and I can continue this great adventure.
salivating at the prospect of having a question without notice on training for
so long and, unfortunately, it is right at the end of question time, so I do
not want to take up too much time! What I will say is that I have an open
invitation to Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich to
ask me a question every single day for the rest of the year because I would
love to talk about training ad infinitum, constantly, without any question
whatsoever because training is in a good situation; we have more people in
training in Western Australia than ever before in the history of the state.
Let us have a look
at apprenticeships. I do not know where the honourable member got her figures
from. We are sitting at about 40 000 at the moment —
Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich interjected.
The PRESIDENT : Order! We have had the
question, now we have the answer. That is the way it works here, one at a time.
Hon PETER COLLIER : She is being very unruly, Mr President, I
would really appreciate it if you would discipline her severely!
The PRESIDENT : Let me judge that; you just answer the
question.
Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich : How come you're 8 300 short?
Hon PETER COLLIER : See! I am trying to get a word in.
I will very quickly explain a couple of things with regard to training.
I really want the honourable member to ask me this question again in the very
first question of question time so that I have a bit of time. At this stage, we
have more people in training than ever before in the history of this state. One
of the biggest issues we have at the moment is the retention of apprentices.
What happened, certainly from, say, 2008 when we were at the peak of the boom,
is we had a significant uptake in apprenticeships. A lot of those
apprenticeships have now dropped off. As a result of the global financial
crisis, the uptake of apprenticeships, logically, nationally declined and so we
saw a decline. We have worked fastidiously over the past three years to ensure
that that uptake increases and we will continue to do so. We are working
hand-in-hand with industry to ensure that that occurs. Having said all that, we
had a significant increase in traineeships—certificate IV and above—over
the past three years. There has been a massive increase. In a very generic
sense in terms of training, we have more people—I repeat, more people—in
training now than ever before in the history of Western Australia.
We will not meet the
target of 47 000; I take that on the chin. We are not going to meet it, I
promise the member.
Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich interjected.
Hon PETER COLLIER : It is not a failure at all. What I am
saying is that we are always going to have a bit of an ambit claim; we want to
put that target up there so we can—we are facing the prospect of a
skills shortage in Western Australia by 2015 of around 76 000—make sure
that we do all that we possibly can for training. As I said, we have done an
enormous amount in the past three years in terms of our state training
providers, our industry training councils and our workforce development
centres. Our Aboriginal workforce development centres throughout Western
Australia are working magnificently; we have had a 14 per cent increase in
Aboriginal training alone. They have been working magnificently.
Suffice to say, I am
going to have to cut it short. I really would like to go on, but training is in
very, very healthy hands and I am really looking forward to Tuesday week when I
get asked another question and I can continue this great adventure.
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