APPRENTICESHIPS are under threat, according to Labor, which points to Victoria having 10,000 fewer apprentices than last year.
The state budget papers show new apprenticeships and traineeships this financial year fell from 61,360 to 51,000.
Altona MP Jill Hennessy said apprentices couldn’t afford to learn their trade.
“Second-year apprentices earn a measly $8 per hour,” she said. “They have to buy tools, meet the costs of running a car, and the TAFE fees have been hiked up. The $500 support payment [from the state government] assisted apprentices and helped take the sting out of some of these costs.
“The Napthine government put up the fees and now has slashed this modest payment to help them survive.
“The government seems hell-bent on making it impossible for young people to get a trade and make ends meet.” Education Department spokeswoman Vanessa O’Shaughnessy said although the $500 apprentice trade bonus had been removed, apprentices already enrolled would still receive it.
“The [Skills] Minister [Peter Hall] is writing to apprentices this week to assure them that, if they have already begun their studies, they will continue to receive the payments.”
