MOTIONS › Employment, Western Australia: Resources Industry
Senator GALLAGHER (Australian Capital Territory—Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) (12:24): I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that: (i) the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government has cut 14,500 apprentices and trainees in Western Australia since it was elected in 2013, (ii) even before the pandemic the Government cut $3 billion from TAFE, training and apprenticeship funding and billions from university funding, (iii) as a result of these cuts, the Western Australian resources industry faces a skill shortage of over 30,000 workers by mid-2023, and (iv) rather than training locals, the Morrison Government has added a range of mining and engineering occupations to the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List; and (b) calls on the Morrison Government to urgently fix the resources industry skill shortage in Western Australia, by investing in training for Western Australians.