Australian PM launches work plan

Australian students undertaking a national trades cadet-ship will be able to participate in a new work experience program, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Wednesday.

Gillard launched the trade cadet-ship scheme on Tuesday with the accompanying work experience program set to start in 2012.

There would be 50,000 work experience places in the first year.

"The places could include spending up to two weeks with a local builder or carpenter, the local engineering firm or even the local holiday resort," Gillard said in a statement on Wednesday.

The prime minister was visiting a car dealership in the western Sydney suburb of Blacktown to discuss the work experience cadet- ship program.

"In every secondary school we will have the opportunity for students to get real skills for real jobs," Gillard told reporters in the western Sydney suburb of Blacktown.

Students would be able to get in school the skills they would need to be on a pathway to be a tradesperson

"Our nation needs skilled tradespeople," Gillard told Australian Associated Press.

"In parts of the country, communities are crying out for more skilled workers.

"I want to make sure that young people ... get the opportunity to get the skills that will get them that job," she said.

Source: Xinhua