Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the Government had a shocking record on vocational education, claiming the coalition was to blame for a slump in the number of apprenticeships. He said there were 420,000 apprenticeships before the Coalition came to power in 2013, but the number had fallen to 280,000 by 2019. Apprenticeships have long been associated with traditional trades, such as plumbing. But traineeships are a newer type of training program and are typically associated with the services sector. Official data shows the number of apprenticeships has been in decline since mid-2012, but there has been a much more dramatic decline in traineeships. Mr Shorten used the term "apprenticeships" when speaking to reporters, but he was, in fact, referring to combined figures for apprenticeships and traineeships. September quarter figures show there were 485,440 people in training for apprenticeships and traineeships in 2012 ' higher than Mr Shorten's figure of 420,000. By September 2018 this had fallen to 267,385, a drop of 45 per cent. When the numbers are separated, it's clear the sharp overall decline is driven by the fall in traineeships, which slumped by 66 per cent, compared to apprenticeships, which fell by 18 per cent. Conflating the numbers may not seem unreasonable but Mr Shorten's claim is misleading as his comments were made within the context of traditional trades; he referred to there being a "crisis in trades training" and expressed his wish to return Australia to being a "tradie nation".
Verdict: Misleading