Six weeks after assuming leadership of the state Labor Party, Rebecca White has delivered her first major speech, making some significant policy announcements in the process.
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Speaking at the Salamanca Inn in Hobart on Friday morning, Ms White said there were two “major problems” keeping Tasmania from fulfilling its potential: jobs and education.
Ms White said if she was to win government, she would cooperate with businesses and industry to establish industry advisory councils to represent “key sectors” of the community.
“These councils will be responsible for producing comprehensive industry development plans to identify Tasmania’s competitive strengths, evaluate our weaknesses and provide a blueprint for economic and jobs growth,” she said.
“A key part of these plans will be to identify where the future jobs in our economy are going to come from, and to identify skill gaps.
“We want to know where we are going and how we are going to get there.”
Ms White said Tasmanian students were not provided with the skills they required in order to find work.
“The TAFE system is broken and Labor needs to accept some of the responsibility for that,” she said.
“We will also take responsibility for fixing it.”
According to Ms White, Labor’s industry advisory councils will be “embedded in the design and delivery of skills training”.
Also announced was Labor’s planned apprenticeship bonus payment scheme, which will provide $3000 per position to businesses that employ apprentices and trainees.
Of that $3000, one half will offset the costs of hiring an apprentice or trainee and the other half will be provided upon completion of the apprenticeship or traineeship.
Ms White said the program could “incentivise” the creation of 1000 new apprenticeships and traineeships over the first term of a prospective Labor government.
The Labor Leader concluded by outlining her vision for the state’s future.
“We can catalyse a seismic shift and no longer be regarded as the little island at the bottom of the world,” she said.
“We can flip things on their head and be the greatest island at the top of the world.”