Gladys Berejiklian denies playing ‘catch up’ over apprenticeships
PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian has hit back at claims the government is playing “catch up” in relation to the plan to offer free apprenticeships with $285 million set aside in tomorrow’s state Budget.
NSW
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PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian has hit back at claims the government is playing “catch up” in relation to the plan to offer free apprenticeships with $285 million set aside in tomorrow’s state Budget.
Ms Berejiklian said the announcement builds on action the government has already taken to address the skills shortage.
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“We actually said in 2014 we wanted to create 1000 apprenticeships in government jobs. We’ve actually doubled that to 2000 and we recently announced we’ll double that again to 4000,” she said.
“The skills shortage we have is because we’re literally a victim of our own success. Our economy is booming, businesses are growing but they need more skills. But more importantly this sets up young people to have a great future.”
Deputy Premier John Barilaro said NSW had seen apprenticeships grow where other states had declined.
”They’re in negative territory when it comes to apprentices so we’re growing but what we want to do today is turbocharge the number of apprentices,” he said.
“Is it catch up? No. We’ve just got an economy that is moving at a rate and what we’re trying to do is accelerate today apprentices going forward.”
But Mr Barilaro dodged questions around what action the government will take once the 100,000 apprenticeship slots are filled.
“We’re not just doing this because it’s a nice idea,” he said.
“There’s a skills shortage in the market, we’ve been working with industry. The message that’s come out loud and clear is that the $2000 or $3000 figure around an apprenticeship is a barrier — we’re removing that.”
Mr Barilaro stressed the government was “not dodging the issue because what we’re doing is building the workforce”.
Ms Berejiklian fired up when asked whether she agreed with former prime minister John Howard’s recent comments that TAFE had been stripped of funding.
“I always agree with him but in this case of course we’re both saying the same thing. We’re both saying TAFE is an important institution,” she said.
“We love him and he loves us. Ask him what he thinks about our government … honestly ask him, ask him what he thinks about our government.”
The Premier, Deputy Premier and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet also revealed details about their first jobs as youths.
Mr Barilaro said he had first worked as a “chippie” while Ms Berejiklian said she had been employed in a gift shop.
But Mr Perrottet’s answer was perhaps most surprising when he announced he had worked at Pizza Hut.
“I started in the kitchen which was a great start — I had a lot of experience with that growing up in a large family so it really worked for me, washing up,” he said.
“But I moved on from that and was promoted to KFC — in fact, I won an award at KFC … I think they called it the Champ’s Award for the guy who did the best serving and cooking in a week.
“That’s probably the highlight of my career outside of what’s going to happen tomorrow.”