Young WA bakers to earn their dough earlier

Education and Training minister Ljiljanna Ravlich today announced further reforms to Western Australia's apprenticeship system to help fully qualified workers enter the workforce quicker.
The changes will see apprenticeships in baking, breadmaking, and pastrycooking now able to be completed in three years, down from the traditional four year apprenticeship.
The Minister said that with skills shortages in the food industry it made sense to allow people with the skills and ability to finish their training early and start working and earning a wage.
This follows an October announcement to reduce apprenticeship times in some areas of the home building industry to three years, and also create seven new two-year residential apprenticeships.
The Minister was also keen to point out that while apprentices might be completing their trade quicker, there would be no compromise when it comes to quality.
"All apprenticeship training will continue to meet national standards. We will continue to produce well skilled and competent workers," she said.
The state plans to spend $31million to create 14,000 extra training places in WA over the next three years.