People and Place

There has been a meteoric rise in enrolments of overseas students in cooking courses in Australia from around 1019 in 2004 to 8242 in 2008. All are trained infull-time courses conducted mainly by private providers - rather than via the apprenticeship system as is the case for Australian-trained cook…

If Australian young people are to acquire trades skills employers need to invest in apprenticeships. The 457 temporary-entry work-visa system offers employers a relatively easy alternative and the government imposes few, training obligations on those who take advantage of it. This means that employe…

Public policy on skills training under the former Coalition Government prioritised trade training. The Rudd Labor Government is following suit. This priority is based on the false assumption of widespread skills shortages in the trades. Such shortages as exist are largely confined to the constructio…