Tristan Tristan, where do you get your thinking.

A first year apprentice, in most organisations, is totally useless. The employer is paying them to turn up, & to go to TAFE.

Not only do they do nothing useful to earn their keep, they actually take some supervision from a useful employee, if only to keep them out of harms way. Thus not only do they do nothing useful, but cost some productivity of useful workers.

The pink bats socialist scheme was a perfect example of half trained people put to work, unsupervised.

Companies & tradesmen employ apprentices out of the goodness of their heart, & in the realization that they need to help produce the next generation of tradesmen.

However there comes a limit to what they are prepared to spend doing this. Employing apprentices has become far too expensive for many, hence the reduction in places.

Yours is a great answer to a cost problem, make it more expensive. God help us.

Has been; Re: trades-people supporting apprentices - IN which case the subsidies need to come from Government... Which I understand Abbott is withdrawing in any case.

Trissy boy there you go again.
The money doesn't come from government.
It comes from taxpsyers like me who generate the wealth in this country.

You should try doing something productive where you make your own money instead of sucking it from the taxpayers teat. You doon see how parasitic you snd your ideas are.

Apprentices wanting to make ends meet will likely pay taxes themselves one day. Like other students they need to make ends meet in the interim. Supporting them during the interim helps ensure they complete their apprenticeship successfully without having to worry about not enough money for food on the table, a roof over their head, and a basic quality of life.

Where' that Labor policy on Govt Banks Tristan ?

Absolutely wrong, Tristan Ewins.

The deal used to work like this. First year apprentices are not worth hiring unless they are cheap. It is not until they reach third year that you can expect any return from (most of ) them. The major employers of apprentices used to be the very small businesses where they were usually tossed in at the deep end and expected to learn quickly.

It was very easy for a young teenager to get an apprenticeship under those conditions. Almost anyone could apply and be accepted. Once you got the job, it was up to you to perform to keep it. I myself was a housing commission kid from a single parent family, and an over active under achiever at school. Today, I would not even be accepted as an apprentice because my grades were too low. I thank fortune for the fact that I lived during a time when it was easy to get a job. I then came (for the first time in my life) under the influence of older men, good tradesmen who became my role models.

Apprentices today are smarter, but their training is disjointed and they are mainly being hired out to very large companies where their training is a matter of luck. There is a world of difference between the attitudes of tradesmen working for big companies and those working for small ones, where if you don't earn your keep, you are shown the door very quickly.

I have had second year apprentices come to work in flashy new cars who simply won't buy any tools. I could tell you a lot of tales about that. Naturally, the employers are concerned that apprentices today won't buy tools, so the government has proposed a new "solution." They are offering to buy apprentices tools with taxpayer money. And you wonder why our country is broke? The little buggers are just too disinterested in their jobs and they spend their money on cars and girls. Their job is the last thing they worry about. And you wonder what is wrong with Australian productivity?