Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

If the parliamentary secretary went out in my electorate with his views that there is no problem here, I think it would serve this side of the House very well. The campus, which was announced in the budget in July, was originally at Rouse Hill. It was announced last year as a temporary campus. The most recent announcement was for a permanent campus at Schofields. Currently there are 20 students enrolled at Rouse Hill with a target of 25 students. There is an extremely low completion rate of only 60 per cent. Even the one technical college that we have is clearly struggling to meet its own targets. We know that the Australian technical colleges plan is a quick fix and we know that it is a political fix. It was the rebadging of one class of 25 student apprentices from one high school in Rouse Hill. That is what it was. The original announcement of a new technical college was the rebadging of an existing class of 25 students at the Rouse Hill school, which has now been moved to a permanent home at the cost of $174,000 for 20 places. It is quite extraordinary.

We need much more than this in Western Sydney. We need real answers for young people and for adults who are retraining. In a city of two million people, 25 places does not cut it. Of course, we do not at this point know how much it will cost for one of these very lucky 25 young people to attend this school. We do not know what it will cost, but we can assume that not one adult from a disadvantaged background will benefit from the opening of this college. How much could have been done if the government had invested this funding through local schools or the local TAFE system. In Western Sydney we have eight TAFE campuses. There are none in my electorate, but Parramatta is surrounded by them: Baulkham Hills, Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Mount Druitt, Nepean-Kingswood, Nepean-Penrith, Nirimba-Quakers Hill and Richmond. In 2006 that combination of eight TAFEs delivered programs to more than 85,000 students in 1,000 vocational areas, yet this is the area that had its funding cut by 13 per cent by this government in its first four years and has had an increase in funding of only one per cent since then.

In spite of the 20 warnings from the Reserve Bank of Australia about the implications of capacity constraints and skills shortages in the Australian economy, what we get from Howard at this point is cuts to TAFE that provides training for 85,000 people and 25 places in a city of two million people. What distresses me about the 11 years of the Howard government—the last 11 of 15 years of an unprecedented boom in this country on the back of the mining boom and the growth of China and India—is the lost opportunity of it. Boom times such as those that we have had over the last 15 years were an opportunity to make a real difference—to invest for the future.

The part of all of us that is not selfish and is responsible expects much more than we have got from this government. After a decade of boom times, is our education system better? Do we honestly think that it is better for our children after a decade of boom times? The answer coming loudly from my electorate is no. After a decade of boom times, unprecedented global booms, are our hospitals better? The answer coming from my electorate is no. Are our community facilities and our ovals and sporting clubs better? No, absolutely not. Are our cities more liveable after a decade of unprecedented boom times? No. Have we bitten the bullet on water? No. Have we bitten the bullet on energy? No. After a decade of boom times, have we looked at the changing world and seen jobs moving freely around the world and even wondered where this country fits in? Have we looked at our strengths and invested in ourselves? No. We have congratulated ourselves on riding on the tail of the biggest boom the world has ever seen. We have not noticed the growing number who are left behind. We have on this side, but on the other side absolutely not. We have not put out a hand to make a difference in the lives of people with mental illness or disabilities and the families that share their lives. After a decade of boom times, are we more open, more generous, do we feel safer and are we better regarded in the world? No, we are not. These are absolutely the easy things that we understand.

It is the hard things that are required to solve the skills crisis in this country. Having consideration for the division of responsibility between federal, state and local governments—getting out there and finding solutions and cooperating—is the hard stuff. That is what was needed. We had an extremely effective system in TAFE. We have seen substantial cuts to that by this government and a $500 million political fix that delivers 25 places for the people who can afford it in a city in Western Sydney containing two million people. That is what we got from this government after 11 years—11 years of denying that there was a skills crisis.

I consider that it would be appropriate to change the name of this bill. I know I cannot do that, but when I look at the title of the  Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2007 I consider what that means in my electorate. It means Australian technical colleges in marginal electorates in order to get the government re-elected and flexibility for 25 people who can afford it in a city of two million people achieving Australia’s skills needs. That is what the government has delivered for Western Sydney: 25 places in a city of two million people and cuts to the TAFE system of 13 per cent that delivers training to 85,000.

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