ONE NATION IN CHARGE OF COALITION SKILLS POLICY

One Nation claiming credit for the Coalition’s so called ‘bush wage’ today just shows how beholden the Morrison Government is to the hard right of Australian politics.

Shadow Minister for Skills, TAFE and Apprenticeships, Senator Doug Cameron, said One Nation’s grandstanding just confirms that the Coalition can’t articulate a rational skills policy of its own.

“The Coalition has form when it comes to exploiting apprenticeships to buy votes,” Senator Cameron said.

“Former Senator Bob Day had his “Student Builder” pilot funded by the Coalition at a staggering cost of $92,000 a head.

“If Senator Hanson has her way, the pilot will be expanded nation-wide and based on the Government’s own targets, it will cost taxpayers in excess of $11 billion in just four years.”

On top of its $3 billion cuts to vocational education, the Coalition’s last budget cut a further $270 million from apprenticeships as part of its deeply flawed Skilling Australians Fund.

“While Skills Minister Michaelia Cash is making expensive and damaging side-deals with cross-benchers, she is failing to negotiate an agreement on apprenticeship funding with the Victorian and Queensland governments,” Senator Cameron said.

“Minister Cash’s track record on apprenticeships is abysmal. Under her draconian Building Code, agreements can’t be made between employers and employees that guarantee the employment of apprentices.”

Labor is calling on Minister Cash to guarantee that no apprentice will be exploited under this scheme and won’t undermine the good work being done by quality community-based apprenticeship employers already operating in regional and rural Australia.

“Senator Cash needs to come clean on any deals that have been done with One Nation for handing them this ill-conceived $60 million scheme,” he said.