Shorten unveils apprenticeship plan

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will unveil a $62 million plan to help Australians struggling to find work.

Jun 14, 2016, updated May 14, 2025
Bill Shorten visited an automotive TAFE campus as part of the 2016 election campaign in Adelaide earlier this month. Photo: AAP
Bill Shorten visited an automotive TAFE campus as part of the 2016 election campaign in Adelaide earlier this month. Photo: AAP

Shorten is announcing his Apprentice Ready program, expected to create 10,000 new positions, in Perth today.

It will offer a 20-week pre-apprenticeship course for trades on the national skills needs list and will be targeted at youth who have been unemployed for more than six months.

Employers will be paid $1000 for hiring apprentices from the program.

Shorten is also announcing a pilot for a new program with 5000 places to help mature-aged workers turn work experience into qualifications.

It aims to have mature-aged apprentices complete their training within 18 months to get jobs in industries with skills shortages.

“Labor won’t let Australians fall behind because there is a gap between the skills they have and the ones employers are looking for,” Shorten said.

“Our plans will stop the rapid fall in Australians taking up a trade.”

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Labor will set a target for one in 10 jobs on priority infrastructure projects to be filled by apprentices.

It will conduct a review of the vocational education and training system and has pledged to rid the sector of dodgy operators.

-AAP

 

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