Remarks at the launch of Australia Pacific Training Coalition

I amdelighted to be here in Samoa, on the eve of the Pacific Islands ForumMinisters' Meeting and to have this opportunity to meet with you and toundertake some very important events here in Samoa underscoring Australia'scommitment to a deep enduring relationship.

PrimeMinister, thank you for meeting with me this morning. We had a very productiveand fruitful discussion, and I pay tribute to you for your leadership of thisbeautiful country over the past two decades, and the way we have worked soclosely together to promote peace, stability, and prosperity for not only Samoa,but the Pacific more generally.

Australiaand the Pacific Island nations are bound together through geography, throughhistory, and through strong personal connections - the people of Australia havedeep affection for the Pacific Islanders and we trust that affection isreturned.

We workclosely together, we are reliable partners, we are trusted friends, but mostimportantly we are family, and Australia will always be there in your times ofneed and particularly in your times of your greatest need in the aftermath ofnatural disasters.

Like allfamily, we cannot take it for granted - we must invest in and nurture ourrelationship, we must continue to work closely together to ensure betteroutcomes for us all and for our peoples.

Australia,and indeed New Zealand, have made engagement with the Pacific, a fundamentalforeign policy priority. Indeed, in our Foreign Policy White Paper last year,we identified our engagement with the Pacific as one of our most important andvital foreign policy priorities.

As you saidat the time Prime Minister, in relation to the benefits of greater economicintegration in the economies of Australia and New Zealand, this will be ofenormous benefit for Samoa and for other Pacific Island nations.

Prime Minister,by your words, "greater economic integration", we took that to mean greaterlinking, and that is the most certainly the case. Not only through ensuringthat Samoans receive better health and education outcomes, not only ensuringthat there is more trade and investment between Samoa the Pacific Islands andAustralia and New Zealand, but also ensuring that your people have the skillsand the qualifications to attain employment here in Samoa, in other PacificIslands, in Australia, New Zealand and beyond.

We have putin place a number of initiatives over the years to ensure that outcome ofgreater opportunity for Pacific Island nations.

First, the SeasonalWorkers Program, since its commencement, over 25,000 Pacific Islanders have workedin Australia under this Seasonal Workers Program. About $145 million has comeback into the region through remittances, and for Samoa about 1,340 Samoanshave worked in Australia under the Seasonal Workers Program.

Building onthe great success of that program, we have initiated the Pacific Labour Schemewhich is a non-seasonal program which we are currently piloting in Kiribati,Tuvalu and Nauru. This will provide opportunities for workers to attain a visafor up to three years to work in areas such as accommodation, tourism,hospitality, aged care.

Currentlyworkers from those three countries are already working in North Queensland,Hayman Island and Hamilton Island.

PrimeMinister, we are currently negotiating a memorandum of understanding with Samoaso that Samoa too can be a partner in our Pacific Labour Scheme.

We recognisethat skills and qualifications are paramount, and that's why in 2007 theAustralian Government established the Australia Pacific Technical College, orthe APTC as it has been known.

The APTC hasbeen a resounding success. About 12,000 graduates across the five campuses aretestament to that and around 5,000 graduates were females. With Samoa thelatest figures we have is that about 1,500 graduates from APTC and at least 700of those graduates were women, attaining Australian level qualifications ofinternational standard and international standing.

The APTC hasbeen a great success, as we're reliably informed that 80 per cent of thegraduates are actually working in their chosen qualification - 98 percent ofall employers survey said they are satisfied with the training that thegraduates have received.

We have somegreat examples like Gregory Soa, a APTC graduate from the campus here in Samoain 2014, who undertook carpentry qualifications. Gregory is now running his ownbusiness, he has the confidence to start and run a business, he's beencontracted to work in New Zealand, and particularly in Christchurch to helprebuild that city after the devastating earthquake in 2011.

Gregory hasdeveloped expertise in seismic joints – this is the kind of expertise that will be usefulelsewhere in the Pacific. His business currently employs eight people.

A greatsuccess story.

TheAustralian Government has since 2007 has invested about $300 million into theAPTC, but we have recognised there are still skill shortages in the Pacific.

We recognisethat there is a high level of unemployment and that a key driver of economicgrowth productivity and job opportunities, are high quality qualifications. Sowe are now entering the second eight year period of the APTC and think it istime to refocus so that we ensure that the institution is fit for purpose, thatits flexible, that it embraces innovation and that it is providing the level oftraining and qualifications that Pacific Islanders want and need.

For a start,we are changing the name to better reflect the operations of the APTC. It willnow be the Australian Pacific Training Coalition.

We will bemaking partnerships a key feature of the APTC and the APTC will work inpartnership with the universities, the TAFE sector, with business, withindustry, with other training organisations. It will be a pathway for graduatesto the universities. For example, the nursing courses at the NationalUniversity of Samoa, if students have undertaken first aid, anatomy and some ofthe health training courses at APTC, then that will give them a pathway intothe nursing qualifications, the bachelor and diploma courses at the NationalUniversity of Samoa.

Likewise wewant to increase our partnerships with the University of the South Pacific andwith Pacific TAFE. We will also align the training and qualifications with our PacificLabour Scheme so that there is a synergy between those two initiatives.

I'mdelighted that Queensland TAFE will continue to provide services, and Icongratulate the CEO for putting together a professional team including anumber of Pacific Islanders who will deliver services across the APTC.

One of thehuge benefits of the APTC is that as an institution, it is a significantemployer. When we began the institution back in 2007, about 20 per cent ofthose employed by the APTC were Pacific Islanders. Today that is 80 percent ofthe trainers, the workers at the APTC are from the region, and I think that's awonderful outcome. We have examples of graduates in metal fabrication becomingthe lead specialist trainer in that discipline.

TheAustralian Government will commit to a further eight years of the life of APTCand we will be investing $32 million more a year to ensure that we will continueto produce high quality graduates with qualifications that will drive economicgrowth here in the Pacific. That is our aim - to invest in human capital, toinvest in human resources of the Pacific so that the people here can drive thestability, the security and the prosperity.

I thank all involved in theAPTC since 2007 for their commitment, their passion, the leadership that theyhave shown as they have understood the purpose and the mission of the APTC,which is to build a resilient Pacific region.