Tuesday, 2 December 2025

 Sonja TERPSTRA (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (01:59): (2173) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Skills and TAFE, and the action I seek is for the minister to outline what this government is doing to support apprentices in Victoria. I stand here as a mother of two apprentices and someone who has had strong interest in the apprenticeship system, so I was absolutely dismayed when I heard another member of this chamber, Mrs Ann-Marie Hermans, make a number of assertions last sitting week disparaging our strong apprenticeship system. In regard to the claim that apprenticeship contracts have halved, it is my understanding that the data the Apprenticeship Employment Network is drawing from represents administrative activity undertaken by –

Wendy Lovell: On a point of order, President, the member made some claims against another member of this chamber, and I believe that if you are going to make a claim against another member of the chamber, it should be by substantive motion.

The PRESIDENT: I think that you cannot make an accusation against a sitting member.

Sonja TERPSTRA: I did not. The statement was made in this chamber, so she made it on the record, and I am responding to it. Further to the point of order, President, there is no point of order because I am not making an accusation. It was a statement that was made by this member in this house.

The PRESIDENT: Continue.

Sonja TERPSTRA: So again, in regard to the claim that apprenticeship contracts have halved, it is my understanding that the data the Apprenticeship Employment Network is drawing from represents administrative activity undertaken by the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, not apprentice and trainee commencements within this period. Training contract commencements are not recorded according to when the paperwork arrives in the training contract management system but rather the commencement date on the training contract. The latest National Centre for Vocational Education Research data on national VET funding shows funding is being directed towards areas of national priority, including the care, construction and health sectors, which means we are prioritising our investments in apprentices and trainees in those areas.

The latest Jobs and Skills Australia data shows exactly the same thing, with the 2025 jobs and skills report finding that since 2019 there are 53,000 more apprentices in priority areas, and the biggest growth has been in electricians, carpenters, motor mechanics and care economy occupations, which have grown 10 per cent since 2019 and now account for 36 per cent of all commencements. In fact we have issued almost 50,000 trade papers since 2019. Those opposite scrapped trade papers when they were in power; that is how much they care about apprentices. Most apprentices study through TAFE, and we know what those opposite did to TAFE when they were in power: 2000 jobs were cut and 22 campuses were closed.