Early election win for our campaign

KIDS who did not finish Year 12 will have the chance to go back to school under an expanded Labor program promised upon re-election.

In what can be chalked up as a preliminary win for the Gold Coast Bulletin’s ‘Fair Go For Our Kids’ campaign, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pledged to spend an extra $180 million to expand the Skilling Queenslanders for Work program.

The scheme helps job-seekers retrain – including aiding a return to complete school.

Training Minister Yvette D’Ath, speaking in Rockhampton yesterday, said the program had allowed 420 people to return to school so far and put about 11,000 people into work.

The LNP has rubbished Labor’s training record and promised to deliver more jobs.

LNP shadow training minister Jarrod Bleijie criticised Labor’s training strategy, stating apprenticeship numbers had “fallen off a cliff”.

He said more than 60,000 fewer Queenslanders were in some form of training under Labor than the LNP.