NT Aboriginal vocational training receives extra $35m
Territory, feds announce new skills training cash. Read where it’s being spent.
The federal Labor government has responded to industry pain and reversed a plan to slash apprenticeship employer incentives from $5000 to $4000.
Master Builders NT raised the issue earlier this week after two Territory nominations won trophies at the national Master Builders awards.
MBNT chief executive Sallyann Innes called on the federal government to retain the $5000 support, which was due to drop to $4000 on January 1.
“Territory builders are already under pressure, and without support, we risk losing the
next generation of skilled tradies who help keep our industry and our economy moving - it is
essential to sustaining our workforce, our businesses, and the Territory’s future growth.”
MBNT echoed comments from shadow skills and training minister Scott Buchholz who also called for the government to reverse the cut.
“The skills pipeline is already on life support, and Labor is still pulling the plug,” Mr Buchholz said.
“Time is ticking and these cuts will push more small businesses to the brink.”
Federal Labor’s skills and training minister Andrew Giles told the NT News on Thursday his Government had moved to retain the $5000 employer contribution.
Mr Giles said the original cut had been announced by the previous Coalition government and it was Labor that reversed the planned increase
He was keen to put focus back onto the Coalition, saying Labor decided on Monday it would retain the $5000 subsidy.
“I’m glad you asked that question,” he said.
“It was the Coalition’s plan at the start and we haven’t cut it, we’ve maintained it so we’ve turned around the cut and delivered $5000.
“(Scott Buchholz) planned to cut it as of July 1 and we extended that until the end of the year because we’ve had a review of the apprenticeship incentives.”
It’s unclear whether the full $5000 subsidy was for sectors other than housing.
While in Darwin, Mr Giles shared a stage with NT Education and Training Minister Jo Hersey to announce a $35m partnership with the NT Government to give Aboriginal employees greater access to vocational education and training.
A $17.5m co-contribution between the federal and Territory governments, the money will fund a registered training organisation for Aboriginal people, strengthen the VET sector, improve employment options and deliver culturally-responsive capability to Aboriginal trainees.
Speaking before attending a meeting of Australian skills ministers at Charles Darwin University’s CBD campus on Friday, he said previous governments had failed to properly train and upskill Aboriginal people.
He declined to put numbers on how many Territorians would be upskilled on the back of the$35m.
“This is not about a number of traineeships,” he said.
“This is about building a system that will work. This is about making sure that some of the barriers that have existed in the past are broken down.”
Mr Giles will attend Friday night’s Australian Training Awards in Darwin.
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Originally published as NT Aboriginal vocational training receives extra $35m
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