Page 318 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 1991
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In 1989 the successes continued with several awards, and in 1990, last year, there were five awards, including the national apprentice butcher, which Katherine McCallum won; the Qantas/Canberra Southern Cross Club study fellowship, which was won by Geoffrey Woodham; the national waiter of the year, which Mark Dawson won; the national trainee of the year, which was won by Francis Duff; and the national golden chef's hat for apprentices in commercial cookery, which Anders Schultz took out. There is no doubt that these awards speak highly of the ACT TAFE and certainly speak highly for the ACT TAFE providing students with quality education.
MR JENSEN (3.47): The provision of TAFE courses is a very important aspect of the development of a vibrant economy. I would like to comment on one issue that is related to the current recession - the recession that the Federal Treasurer indicated that we had to have, although we know that the Prime Minister seems to have some disagreement with his Treasurer on that; but that is for another place. Let me now refer to some ideas that should be considered by not only our own Government but also the Federal Minister responsible.
During this period of recession and industry slow-down, Mr Deputy Speaker, the first reaction seems always to be for employers to immediately cut off their intake of apprentices. At this stage I would like to put on record the major contribution to this important training area by the Master Builders Construction and Housing Association with an industry-wide scheme for apprentices to enable the building industry to ensure that, in times of recession and building industry downturn, apprentices are able to move around the industry, not only to obtain varied experience but also to have an opportunity to continue their apprenticeship if their current employer gets into difficulties.
It is a very important initiative, Mr Deputy Speaker; one in which ACT Government agencies are currently participating at an increasing rate each year. Public sector employees, like ACTEW and ACT Public Works, have, in fact, as I have said, increased the number of apprentices and their participation in the scheme. In fact, it was one of those ACT Government agencies which was given an award by the Master Builders Construction and Housing Association last year for its contribution to this very important scheme.
The major factor in this, Mr Deputy Speaker, is that this provides an opportunity for young apprentices within the industry to be able to move around if in fact their employer is experiencing some problems. However, it is important to remember that during a recession there is a need to not decrease the number of apprentices that are available but in fact to increase the number that is under training so that when the recession finally turns around there will be sufficient trained trades men and women to
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