Member for Robertson, Lucy Wicks, has hit back at claims by Member for Dobell, Emma McBride, that the Central Coast is facing a skills crisis due to the Federal Government’s “failure” on training apprentices.
McBride said new Education Department data showed about 1,140 apprentices and traineeships had been lost to the Coast under Liberal leadership, and around 140,000 nationwide.
“It’s hurting our economy and denying Australians jobs,” McBride said.
“As a result, we have shortages of bricklayers, plumbers, hairdressers, bakers, electricians, mechanics, panel beaters, and other critical tradespeople.
“We have so many local businesses on the Coast that want to grow and hire more staff, but they are being let down by the Liberals’ failure on training.
“On the Central Coast, we have a long term youth unemployment rate stuck at around 12 per cent.
“We need to give young people employment opportunities through apprenticeships.
“When the Liberals came to power, there were 4,709 apprenticeships on the Central Coast and now the Central Coast has 3,569 – a drop of almost 25 per cent.”
But Wicks said the Government was committed to ensuring that every young Australian can find work and is providing intensive and targeted support to help them “transition into meaningful employment”.
“Young apprentices on the Central Coast will benefit from a new government funded scholarship worth up to $5,000 per year under a program to be delivered by apprenticeship services agency Busy At Work,” Wicks said.
She said the Coast was one of 10 regional locations to be provided with a share of 400 scholarships under the Commonwealth Scholarship Program for Young Australians, which commenced on March 1.
“Through this program, we are investing $8.2M in young Australians to complete vocational education and training (VET) courses that train them for jobs that are in demand in their region,” Wicks said.
“Participants will be given the opportunity to complete a VET course from Certificate III to Advanced Diploma level, and participate in a 20 business-day paid internship with a local business.
“This program is more good news for our young people on the back of a drop in the local youth unemployment rate.”
Wicks said the scholarship program accompanies the 2019-20 Budget announcement of an Industry Training Hub for the region.
“The Central Coast Industry Training Hub will have office space and a full time career facilitator who will work in close partnership with local schools, training organisations and local employers to develop pathways and meet the region’s specific workforce and training needs,” she said.
Source:
Media release, Mar 1
Member for Dobell, Emma McBride
Media release, Mar 12
Member for Robertson,
Lucy Wicks