Labor's party bus rolls in to Grafton
'We need to fund opportunities while also having people there to have decent high quality conversations about local opportunities and education.'
Grafton
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NO ELECTION is complete without a colourful campaign bus and yesterday the Labor Party's "Daley Express" stopped in at Grafton TAFE to bring a message on youth unemployment.
Deputy Labor leader and shadow minister for the environment, Penny Sharpe, was critical of the current government's effort on employment in the area and offered up Labor's plan for tackling the issue.
"When Labor left office in 2011, the youth unemployment rate in this area was around 10 per cent and it is now 23 per cent," she said.
"We are going to guarantee funding for TAFE, start the long process of rebuilding and will create free TAFE places for industries with skills shortages along with growth areas like the NDIS, aged care, early childhood and youth work."
When discussing youth unemployment set against the backdrop of big infrastructure spending in the area, Clarence Labor candidate Trent Gilbert was critical of the NSW Government who he says had lied about the employment benefits to local people.
"Those figures on youth unemployment are a shameful figure, if you drive north of the electorate the figure up there is only 9.7 per cent so there is something happening here and we have to change it," he said.
"Our policy is to put local suppliers first when it comes to infrastructure and procurement, that's what people expect," he said.
"The current government continue to tell the lie that they are they are doing that, but they are not, the proof is in those figures.
Mr Gilbert also talked up Labor's plan to boost the number of careers advisors in regional schools and establish a unit of advisors to target areas of high unemployment.
"We need to fund opportunities while also having people there to have decent high quality conversations about local opportunities and education," he said.
Originally published as Labor's party bus rolls in to Grafton
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