Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this very, very important matter. I am delighted that the Speaker determined that the topic for consideration today in the matter of public importance debate would be in the area of education—an area very close to my heart—and in particular technical and further education. The actual statement says that there is 'a current failure of Commonwealth and states to reach agreement on the future funding of technical and further education'. That is right, because the Commonwealth government wants to put money into education, while the states, particularly down the eastern seaboard, have one goal. That goal is to take money out of education. That is a point of conflict, and I understand that the member who has put this forward today is very concerned about the tension.

We should be concerned about the tension because right now as a federal government we must not lose sight of the fact that if we do not fight this out hard enough and if we do not fight strongly for the right for people to access TAFE—an institution that has seen generations of Australians able to access technical and further education—it will be absolutely destroyed. It is right now in the custodianship of this federal government—thank God we are committed to education, unlike those opposite—to make sure that the TAFE system, which has delivered so much for so many, will actually survive the onslaught of Liberal state governments up and down the eastern seaboard and across the rest of the country.

We know, and every Australian understands, that qualifications are the passport to a better job, are the passport to a higher pay packet and give you a secure future. I have taught many, many students in schools for whom school was not the place in which they were going to excel. But I am very pleased to say that, in the many years since, I have seen my students moving around in the community and so many of them have spoken about wonderful experiences of learning at our TAFEs. They had skills that TAFE helped them discover, develop and use to build opportunities for a future. Many of them are now local business men and women on the Central Coast who are getting on using their skills and giving jobs to a whole new generation who need access to technical and further education. But up and down the east coast we see the constant slashing of funding for education, as if it does not matter.

Parents with kids in schools are very, very aware of this. In terms of TAFE, in New South Wales we know that 800 job losses are on the line. Front-line teachers are being completely removed. There is a 9.5 per cent increase in TAFE course fees and an almost doubling of the TAFE student concession fee to $100. If there is a student who is thinking about becoming a learner at TAFE, now they know that if they are going to do even a certificate I they are going to pay an extra $44. It is the same for a certificate II. The reality is that, for people who need access to these courses, often $44 is just enough to make it that little bit too difficult. Often people engaging in TAFE I and II courses are people who might not have had success at school. They are people who might already have a vulnerable sense of their identity as a learner. They could go and do something that they think they are good at and have a go, but $44 could become an impediment that stops them from getting there.

We need to make sure that we fight for these people, that our TAFE system is maintained and that it is properly funded, not slashed and burned as we are seeing with the Baillieu government, the O'Farrell government and that Newman government up in Queensland. If you want to do a certificate III course in New South Wales, a standard apprenticeship qualification, the fee has risen to $793. If you want to go on to an advanced diploma, it has gone up to $793. That is an increase of $150. All of these things add up to disconnection of people from TAFE, and that is if they can actually get the course because the courses are being slashed left, right and centre at the moment. The Liberal New South Wales Minister for Education, Adrian Piccoli, has continued the trend that we saw established in Victoria by cutting TAFE funding. He is slashing jobs and he is increasing student fees. There is no difference in what is going on there, except perhaps it is a little worse in Queensland than it is in New South Wales at the moment.

We have heard that in Queensland, since the election of the Newman government, there is a proposal—which was recommended by the task force—which is much more concerned about dollars and cents than it is about people. We need to understand that these things have to go hand in hand. We on this side do understand that. It is dollars, cents and people; it is not dollars and cents over people. What they are proposing to do is take 82 TAFEs that spread across that broad state of Queensland and cut them back to 44. They want to cut back to 44 TAFEs. What does that mean if you live in a regional area and your TAFE is gone? That is your future out the window. That is your disconnection from being a productive and engaged member of the workforce of Australia.

In Queensland, the Minister for Education, Training and Employment, John-Paul Langbroek—

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