Question:
Congratulations on the web site. I am not a member of your party, or any party, but it is great to see honest, transparent agendas and hard work from a councillor. I wish you every success. My questons is: Why can the City of Yarra not use the same model for developing a Structure Policy incorporating the key issues of built form, heritage and amenity as that used to develop a Transport Policy?

Answer:
Thank you for your email and kind comments.
My answer to your question is that unlike the Socialist Party, which has a clear set of values, and an idea of democratic process and involvement, the Yarra City Council is a collection of various different views from pro-development, to pro-resident, and every combination in between. The Planning Dept at Yarra needs clear direction from the new Council that their job is not to facilitate development in the area for the benefit of developers, but rather to advise Council and the local residents of whether planning appliciations meet the standards required for approval, and to police enforcement of planning regulations. A Structure Plan for the Smith St Activity Center will only be supported by local people if they are involved in its development. If we pull this off, we can seek interim Structure Plans for the rest of Yarra from the State Planning Minister Rob Hulls and therefore have an overall set of rules as to what is and what is not allowed re development in Yarra. This will be of great comfort to residents and give clarity and certainty to developers. It remains to be seen over the next few weeks as to whether local people and Councillors and Council officers can reach an agreement or alternatively whether there will be a major political battle in Yarra over this issue.
Regards Stephen Jolly

Question:
Hi and Congratulations on being elected and for your great work that i have been following to date.

The Question I have is a general broad one. Apprenticeships and lack of them.

This is a large unnoticed problems in our community, It is fact that we are not producing enough tradesmen to replace those that are retiring or leaving their profession.
The current Government says there are so many shortages and promotes trades more and more.

However the apprenticeships are JUST NOT THERE

The companies are not employing them as it hurts there bottom line. small business dont have enough incentives and dont want the hassle.

I myself and looking for an apprenticeship in Electrical . I have been looking and trying for over a year... Every time I attend interviews information sessions the story is the same, they have 500-600 even more applicants for 1 job.

It is clear there is a huge problem here the government is promoting but is not providing and it is our future as a country that is suffering for it. I have been following the socialist party for some time now and feel this is an issue that is understated and needs to be brought up to the table

My Question is: What would/could a socialist government/party do to address this increasing problem?

Answer:
Dear Clinton,

Thanks for your question.

We, as a party, stand for a massive boost in expenditure to education to the degree that it becomes free and accessible for all, not just the rich. On the basis of a socialist government taking into public ownership under workers control and management, the top 150 companies, we can undertake an economic plan that would shift resources to infrastructure, education, health, housing etc at the expense of defence, advertising, speculation and so on.

We think it the current 'skills shortage' was an inevitable result of user pays, HECS, underfunding of Tafe, and greedy bosses refusing to train young workers.

On Council, I chair the new Youth Advisory Committee and one change we are going to propose to the full Council meeting in April is that we user our leverage with contractors and only give tenders to firms who take on apprentices and to developers who stick to the union push for 1 apprentice for every 5 tradespersons.

Keep in touch and let us know your views on all this.

Regards
Stephen Jolly

Reply from Clinton:

Thanks for your reply on the site.
I have heard that unions want 1 apprentice for 5 tradesmen on all sites. A few unions have pushed to have it written into there EBA agreements to take on so many apprentices per year. Both these are great to see..
This problem has affected me for a long time not being able to find an apprenticeship in my chosen field. 18 months ago i decided that an electrician would be my career path as it fitted my skills very well and its work i enjoy... One factor that made me chase an apprenticeship as well was i was constantly reading in the media about apprenticeships and no one wants them and so many are going begging.
I have "A's" right through difficult VCE maths subjects.
I have done a tafe pre apprentice coarse with high distinction.
I also have done trades assistant work.
Every time i attend a first interview i am alway told they had beetween 500-600 applicants for 1 job
75% of the time i get through to the final few I pick from yet am never chosen. I feel its my age as it will cost them more. This made me very mad at the current government as in the press its constantly stated they are everywhere.
Slowly the truth is being revealed in the geelong advertiser "G Force" a recruitment agency realased a story about how they had 100 apprenticeships in all areas that no one wanted... over a week they were snowed with applicants. The geelong advertiser recieved piles of letters saying its wrong... the paper investigated revealing there where only actually 18 on offer and 10 of them were for chefs and 7 for retail (which is basically a traineeship to offer cheap labour)...

Its interesting as well if you do a search of the net on the topic you find 2 opinions.
1 which is the governments view that they are eveywhere and no one wants them.
2. which is the actual apprentices and union groups saying the goverment is promoting things that are not there and some current apprentices
now in the electrical feild were looking and trying for 3-4 YEARS!!!!
It is fact that not enough trained people are being qualified to replace those leaving the trade. I did have actual stats on this but its roughly they need 80k become qualified every year to cover growth and leaving. at the moment around 55k and actually being trained in trades which is reducing at 5% every 5 years, of that 80K, 35k must be in core trades eg. electrical, plumbing, fitter etc
only 20k are becoming trained!!! and its dropping!!
The trades with the most shortage is
1.Electrical
2.Printing
3.Fitter
least trained in core trades
1.ELECTRICAL
2.PRINTING
3.FITTING
WE ARE HEADING FOR A CRISIS
I have read a lot into the problem as it is affecting me a lot I'd love to discuss it more with you or with your party. The more and more i read about a socialism the more i like it. I have found myself telling others about your work and what the party stands for. I really want to get involved when the opurtunity arises to be part of UNITE. I too am a casual employee and find myself constantly being treated like a modern day serf. I even at one stage worked as a supervisor and had pressure on me to treat them bad eg cut wages but sending home after very short shifts irregular work .. The more and more i think about the apprentice problem and the Casual problem i feel cheated and its time to make a stand.
Corporations used to care with apprentices my father is a carpenter and the company he done his through employed 25!! per year the SEC used to employ 100 apprentices every year now all the privatised caompanies combined employ 16 i counted them all they care about are shareholders there fellow greedy mates cut costs more cash...
the world is turning into the lords and the slaves and I hate seeing it... Keep up your good work and keep fighting I heard something once
When they come to take away people with green eyes to be slaves it never worried me cos I had blue
When they came to take away those with grey I said I dont care I have blue
When they came to take away those with brown I thought thank go I'm blue I am safe
When it came to take away those with blue.... and it was time to fight
.... no one was left to fight with me...
and I went too...
seems silly but they way the world is heading I see this happining.. and we cant wait untill its too late
Feel free to reply to me about either issues... Keep up your good work

Question:
This forum is very impressive. A step forward for online democracy. My Question: During the Yarra campaign the council scheme to lend baby capsules got votes from families. It's a good idea - families buy a capsule for only 6 months. So why is the scheme now only limited to Health Card holders?

Answer:
Thank you for your email and kind comments.
It is due to past Council's putting cost saving before the needs of families. I pledge to fight in this pre-budget period to get the scheme broadened to include all families in Yarra. Watch this space for progess on it.
Regards Stephen Jolly