PM: The Australian Government is committed to building Australia's future. Part of that is building WA's future as well. Part of the challenge of doing that is to responsdto the great challenge of the global financial crisis and global economic recession. That's why, as part of our nation building program, the Australian Government has invested $5.9 billion in Western Australia. That's supporting more than 5,775 projects and $1.75 billion in WA is going to school projects of the type that we are seeing here at the Westminster school and I'm glad to be here today with Dom and James and also Mark Arbib, the Minister, and also with Louise Durack, our candidate for Stirling.
Building schools like this and enhancing them for the future has done two things. It's provided jobs, it's provided opportunities for apprenticeships, and support for small business in the here and now, while building the school infrastructure we need for tomorrow.
Here at this school I'm told that the $5 million investment that we're putting in here is supporting the early childhood education centre over there with three classrooms, the library which is being built over that way and, on top of that, a new classroom block of four classrooms with a specialist emphasis on art. This is a really good investment in this school.
Then you go down to what's happened in terms of employment and we're told there have been some 120 workers who have worked on this site since the building projects began and, of course, these projects still have a ways to run. The other thing that we are doing through the local jobs plan is making sure that we can use projects like this to build and support local apprentices and that's why we're particularly pleased to be here today with Dom and his new apprentice James to talk about how they've been able to make s success of this building project but also on a special apprenticeship program we're running, which is the apprentice kickstart initiative. This, again, has been designed by us to try and maintain a large number of people coming into apprenticeships despite the troubles of the economy last year.
Nationwide, this program, which Mark Arbib's responsible for, is a $100 million initiative and it's been signed up with the objective of bringing on stream 21,000 new apprentices by the end of February this year.
So far what we've done is in the month or so that it's been operating, or six seeks, it's been operating, we've already brought on stream 6,400 apprentices across the nation. This is a really good start. In the first month alone, 4,500 apprentices. This is actually larger than the number of apprentices brought into this particular scheme 12 months before and 12 months before that, and the reason is we have trebled the funding which goes to each apprentice taken on by a tradesman under this scheme. So it's been a huge success.
Not only have we made a difference in young people's lives like James, but for 6,500 like him right across the country, and here in WA nearly 1,000, in fact, 840 trades apprentices so far. These are in traditional trades like carpentry, and like bricklayers, plumbers, electrical trades, as well as bakers and butchers.
This is good practical stuff.
So, in summary, what have we got here? We've got us investing to make a difference with building the nation for the future; us making a difference with jobs and apprenticeships at a local level; us making that difference in the individual lives of Dom's company and James' apprenticeship, who started his first apprenticeship only one month ago under this program. So this is all about making a difference nationally for our whole economy, for the state of WA, as well as for companies such as the one run by Dom, small businesses, as well as apprenticeships for young folk like James who are just starting out. This is a really good step forward and it's a good news story for the locality and for the country
There's one other matter we'll talk about today which is a new element of our pre-apprenticeships program which I'll ask the Minister, Mark Arbib to speak to you about.
ARBIB: Thanks, Prime Minister.
One of the worst aspects of the global recession has been its effect on training. We've seen, in the past 12 months, a drop in apprentice commencements of about 25%. That means 10,000 less apprentices commenced over the past 12 months. Now, we have seen this in previous recessions and we saw it in the 1990s, and in the 1990s when apprentice levels dropped it took 10 years to recover.
That's why the Rudd Government acted early and decisively to ensure we meet the training demands of the future. We know on the horizon that there's something like 80 major project in LNG, in mining, across the country. 60% of those are going to be in WA. We are talking about the potential for 70,000 construction jobs alone. The government, the country, needs to train workers for these future jobs. That is what apprenticeship kickstart is about. That's why we acted early.
The Prime Minister has talked about the $80 million that was invested to support 21,000 apprenticeships. We've already announced that we're putting in $20million to pre-apprenticeship training programs. Today I'm asking States to start submitting projects and programs as part of that $20 million element, to ensure that we have an estimated 4,000 pre-apprentices.
Now, people may not know what pre-apprentices are, but James right here, he started as a pre-apprentice, that's how he started, in a pre-apprenticeship program. He left school, started with a group training organisation and now he's moved into an apprenticeship. And when we talk to employers they say if you can speed up the first year of an apprenticeship, if you can get those young apprentices a start, get them some training, then we're going to be more likely to take them on. That's what the pre-apprenticeship program is about. That's why we're asking States, like WA, to start putting in their bids for it, it's a totally competitive process.
The one other thing, Prime Minister, that I did want to say is that WA employers have responded extremely positively to apprenticeship kickstart and I want to set the challenge for them today to keep leading the country; keep taking on apprentices. Now is the time to invest. Take on an apprentice. It's going to be good for the future.
PM: Just before taking your questions, so what are we on about? Building Australia's future and building a future for working families. And part of building Australia's future is building the skills we need for the future as well and building the schools we need for the future. And part of that is what we're doing here today - making a difference for the nation, for the economy, for the State and for individual small businesses and for young apprentices like James, who begin their working life under this program.
Over to you folks.
JOURNALIST: How concerned are you that were heading towards another skills shortage (inaudible)
PM: Well, if we learn from economic history and the last decade, the big lesson from the 2000s is not to sit on your hands and hope that it all sorts itself out in the end. Guess what - it didn't, and it doesn't.
The alternative is what we are doing - making a difference with key programs like this. The fact that we have in six short weeks been able to attract nearly 1,000 apprentices under this Kickstart program is a fantastic contribution and the reason is that these young workers are going to be introduced to the workforce, and be available for deployment elsewhere in the workforce depending on how their apprenticeship runs and what they do beyond that.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: The danger, the danger is, just to add that, is what Mark said before. What has happened earlier is that people have slid out the back door of the work force, not taken up apprentices, so that when the big surge for skills demand comes, frankly it's very hard to get them back in the door.
So we are making a difference through this program on apprenticeships; through the program the Minister just spoke about on pre-apprenticeships; and more broadly through our program of productivity training places across the whole economy, which is a program which runs over five years and involves more than 700,000 places. This is one part of what we're doing on the skills front
JOURNALIST: On the flipside what safeguards are in place to prevent employers (inaudible)
PM: Well, I'll turn to Mark for the detail of this but under the structure of our scheme we make a partial payment up front and we make a partial payment on completion of the apprenticeship. So we've provided the best split of incentives to get people in the door and additional incentive to ensure that the employer completes the apprenticeship program with the young apprentice. Ultimately it depends on this bloke doing his job well and this bloke being a decent boss, but we've provided the incentives, and I've got to say, I congratulate both of them on what they've done so far.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) strict rules (inaudible)
PM: Over to you mate.
ARBIB: Yeah, there are already strict guidelines in terms of apprenticeships and apprentices being indentured to businesses, so they're already in place. But there also other incentives at the back end of apprenticeships, so they're already there, for those companies who keep their apprentices on, so there's no doubt about it.
What we're finding though is that businesses have been at the tipping point, tradespeople have been at the tipping point for a long period of time in terms of taking on apprentices, and they've been telling us, 'we want to take on more workers, we want to take on more apprentices but we need some financial incentive, we're not too sure yet if the economy's going to turn around' and with this incentive we're seeing it - 6,400 apprentices in six weeks. I mean that is a very, very good start. We want to get to 21,000 so there's a bit of a way to go.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) figures out today?
PM: I couldn't hear-
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) Why do you think they've gone up today?
PM: Are these the abuse figures nationally or for the West?
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: This is a hugely vexed area of public policy. As someone who has been a white ribbon ambassador in terms of domestic violence for some years now, we have a, I have a reasonable degree of familiarity with all the complications out there in individual families' lives.
I wish I had a single line response as to why this has occurred. We know with domestic violence that the principal perpetrators are blokes. Abuse against children, there is a whole range of factors involved.
At its core, the challenge lies in turning attitudes around. It is simply unacceptable for anyone to whack a kid in anger, which causes that kid to have damage and injury and other forms of abuse. It's unacceptable to engage in any form of other abuse of children, just as it's unacceptable to abuse a partner or a wife because this is just not on in 21st century Australia.
I wish I had the magic answer to your question as to what's causing this; I wish I had the magic answer in terms of the total solution, but let me tell you there's a whole stack of stuff that we, in partnership with many community organisations across the country, are now actively engaged in to try and turn the corner on this large national problem. Over to you
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister in the context of (inaudible) - how important are WA marginals (inaudible)
PM: Well, how we perform at the next election is ultimately going to be the judgement of the good people of WA and the good people across Australia. They'll make a judgement, they'll be hard judges, and they'll be fair judges in terms of what we've done, whether we've honoured our commitments to the Australian people and whether our plans for the future are credible plans for the future.
The second point I'd make is we're also benefitted by having strong effective local candidates like Louise here in seats like this, but ultimately it depends on our performance as a government and our plans for the future.
Let me go to just one core point - right around the world, people are looking at the Australian economy with envy. Across all the world, all the major advanced economies, we are the only one not to have gone into recession. We are the only one in the last 12 months for our economy to have grown. We currently have the second lowest unemployment of the major advanced economies, and we've done so on the basis of having the lowest debt and the lowest deficit. These are strong, fundamental, economic credentials for office. That's what we're about - building Australia's economic future by concrete steps, but ultimately it's a judgement for the Australian people and the good people of WA.
JOURNALIST: Are you disappointed that the candidate (inaudible ) in Cowan was just days away from being endorsed when the spectre of Brian Burke (inaudible) will you ever get rid of that?
PM: You know something the question of candidates and their endorsement is entirely a matter for the party organisation so I'll leave endorsement questions and organisational questions to them.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) Dullsville tag? (inaudible)
PM: Dullsville?
JOURNALIST: Yeah (inaudible) in the paper
PM: Gees!
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Since I've been PM I've been back here 12 or 13 times, we were just talking about it before. It's a terrific city and I've -
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne
PM: Look, I bring to this debate all the impartiality of a Queenslander, which you should all have confidence in - stop smirking - and can I say I think this is a fantastic city.
The fact that you've just got Rottnest just offshore; the fact that you have a fantastic port city like Fremantle. I have been in the coffee shops in Fremantle, they are terrific; the city of Perth has lots on offer. Every time I come here with my staff we do the big walk around the two bridges and if I was to compare simply the city vista of that against the city vistas elsewhere in Australia, it's stupendous, and I'd also say Kings Park would have to be, of all inner city parks in Australia, right out there at the head of the pack, so whoever's mounting this criticism locally, frankly, I think they've got it radically wrong. I think this is a terrific city. It's got a huge amount going for it.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) Australia Day.
PM: Yes, 26th of January.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: It's a trick question to test you.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) enjoy a drink on the foreshore for the fireworks (inaudible)
PM: What danger are you trying to entice me into here that I'm unaware of? I suspect there's a big local debate (laughs)
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Can I say local police, right across the country, will be making very local decisions about local venues about what's good, bad, indifferent or in between. I am not a wowser but let me tell you I respect what the coppers decide in terms of what's a good place to have people together with alcohol and without alcohol. I respectfully decline to engage in that debate because I just don't know the local circumstances.
Last one and then I've got to go, sorry.
JOURNALIST: This morning, you said you hadn't seen the Greens (inaudible)
PM: Firstly can I say again, that I've just travelled from Adelaide to here and I've conducted two or three business meetings on the plane, I haven't read the Greens submission.
What I'd repeat is what I said this morning in Adelaide, which is that the Australian Government is open to positive, productive discussions with the Greens and other political parties in the Australian parliament on proper action on climate change.
I said there, and I'll say here again, that includes Mr Abbott if he would simply change his extremist view that climate change, to use his own words, is crap. That's what he said. Our view is that climate change is real and it requires practical action, that's our approach. But if he moves away from his extremist position and decides to get with the project, we're up for a discussion with him as well. But with the Greens - we'll go through what they've put down and enter into good faith discussions with them, as we have with all political parties so far. And can I say, having said that I've got to zip
JOURNALIST: Just want to ask you one more.
PM: Got to go, got to go. Thank you very much.