Ms MACKLIN (3:04 PM) —My question is to the Minister for Vocational and Technical Education. Is the minister aware that on 4 November the ACCC authorised an industry levy on bricks to address Australia's shortage of skilled bricklayers and fund more apprentices? Minister, won't this levy mean increases in cost to businesses and families? Why has the Howard government let a severe skill shortage develop and allowed a levy on families and businesses? In the light of the minister's earlier answer, what will he do to stop the price of bricks increasing as the result of this new levy?

Mr HARDGRAVE (Minister for Vocational and Technical Education and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister) —I think the member has really asked the wrong minister, in the sense that the ACCC is not within my remit, but I am happy to check it all out. What I am particularly conscious of—and, naturally enough, concerned about—is that the impact of the state governments' fee increases is driving up the cost to apprentices taking up new apprenticeships.

Ms Macklin —Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. The point of order is on relevance. This is all about a new industry levy to fund apprenticeships.

The SPEAKER —The minister has only just started answering his question, so there is no point of order.

Mr HARDGRAVE —Mr Speaker, it is also about the area of traditional trades, of which bricklaying is just one. The point that the Labor Party need to understand very clearly is that, as a direct result of Labor government actions around various states of Australia, it has become harder for apprentices to afford the cost of a new apprenticeship. It is extremely important for the Labor Party to understand the culture of what their own governments at the state level have actually driven. We have done some work with Access Economics—and Access Economics, of course, is by no means strange to those opposite—and in fact we have had to revise downwards the projected increase in demand for vocational and technical education over the 2004-06 period from 2.9 per cent to 1.7 per cent in VET hours.

That is a result of factoring in the increases in the costs of studying in order to get people such as bricklayers out into the workplace. I am happy to look into the specifics the member has asked for but at the end of it those opposite need to understand that there has been a cultural change in the work force today. Those opposite also need to understand that we are delighted to receive questions on vocational and technical education. I think we have had more in the last week and a half than we have had in the previous 8½ years.