Stuart Henry (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It has certainly been interesting sitting here listening to the member for Rankin, and I guess there are a number of areas where I could perhaps agree with him. I could agree with him that there is absolutely nothing wrong with having two streams of education—an academic stream and a vocational stream—and it is also good to see that this is a good piece of legislation. But some of his other remarks I find rather surprising, coming from somebody who, when previously in power, had a youth unemployment rate of 34.5 per cent. What sorts of opportunities did they provide for these people? Given his compliments about this legislation and the value of quality vocational education, he might well even support Australian technical colleges, which quite clearly provide a quality vocational stream for young Australians in high school. It is that sort of quality that will ensure that they have the opportunity of going on and creating careers and opportunities for themselves in their working lives.

There is no doubt that the Howard government believes it is vitally important to raise the status of vocational and technical education to signal the significance that both the government and the community attach to high-level technical qualifications which in turn raise the self-esteem and improve the career paths of those students undertaking such qualifications. Again, referring back to the member for Rankin, it was interesting to hear his criticism of the government. Many state Labor governments at the moment oppose the introduction of Australian technical colleges. They have done very little about apprenticeship and trade training and allow TAFEs to continue to ignore industry requirements to develop skills. Labor governments have required students to stay at high school until year 12 but have not provided a learning environment that engages the majority of those students who do not wish to pursue an academic pathway with a learning environment that allows them to learn by doing, as is created by the Australian technical colleges. In fact, the Australian technical college in Maddington, in the electorate of Hasluck, is doing a fantastic job already, having developed very quickly an automotive workshop. I have been about there recently and have seen a lot of young people taking advantage of that vocational training, working on motor vehicles in that workshop and really learning about the opportunities for careers in mechanics where they can make a very positive contribution to the community, to the automotive industry and to themselves and their families.

The Higher Education Support Amendment (Extending FEE-HELP for VET Diploma and VET Advanced Diploma Courses) Bill 2007 will amend the Higher Education Support Act 2003 to extend the FEE-HELP scheme to students in full-fee vocational education and training diploma and advanced diploma courses with approved training institutions such as TAFE and other industry registered training organisations. This year’s federal budget delivered a number of measures including FEE-HELP to lift the status of vocational education and training in Australia. Pursuing a trade or a vocational qualification is definitely no less important than undertaking university education as a pathway to career and future prosperity. People should be encouraged to do what they can do best, and FEE-HELP is a loans scheme which lessens the burden of up-front fees and will be of great assistance to many. It helps eligible students to pay their tuition fees and can cover all or some portion of those fees. The Howard government pays the amount of the loan direct to a student’s education provider then students repay their loans through the taxation system once their income rises above the minimum threshold.

Debate interrupted.

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