Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I support the motion of the shadow minister for vocational education, the member for Cunningham, and commend her for highlighting these important issues. This motion goes right to the heart of this cruel government's cuts and how they have impacted on the training opportunities, and the subsequent future employment opportunities, for our young people. Compounding this situation is the fact that this government has no new ideas for training young people for the jobs of the future.

Firstly and most alarmingly, under this government we have seen a drop of nearly 100,000 in the number of apprentices in training. This major drop will be felt particularly severely in regional areas—where unemployment is consistently higher than in the cities and where youth unemployment is always high. The Abbott government needs to implement policies that actually help apprentices and not cut every bit of funding available. They should be focused on training a skilled workforce for the future.

It is also a great concern that apprenticeship commencements and completions are down approximately 20 per cent for the 12 months to 31 December 2014, a massive reduction. This reflects the government's lack of support and lack of incentives to ensure that apprentices are able to complete their training. It is appalling that there has not been one policy put forward by the Abbott government that increases investment in apprentices to help them start and complete an apprenticeship.

We have just seen the second anniversary of the Abbott government. In that time we have seen so many harsh cuts to programs and services. In terms of training, we have seen $2 billion in cuts to skills funding. This government's relentless attack on the training of tomorrow's apprentices began with the first budget and has just continued at every opportunity it has. We have seen it make $1 billion in cuts to apprenticeship programs. We have seen it replace apprentice support with apprentice debt by abolishing the Tools for Your Trade program. We have had a rebadging and cutting of funding to the Australian Apprenticeships Centres, along with the abolition of the Joint Group Training Program. The government has also cut support for adult apprentices, and this is particularly cruel in our current economic situation, in which many industries are transitioning and often older workers require retraining. The fact is that we should be investing in training the workforce of the future, not cutting every program that helps them train and helps people enter or re-enter the workforce.

Two years of the Abbott government has meant a decrease in training for Australians. In particular, young Australians are paying the price, especially when it comes to TAFE cuts. At both a state and a federal level, the cuts to TAFE have been extremely harsh. Just yesterday it was reported that leaked cabinet documents from the New South Wales Liberal-National government reveal that they want to sell off 27 TAFE sites. The documents showed that in 21 regional towns TAFE will be closed or reduced through a partial sale. This is a disgrace. For the New South Wales North Coast and my electorate, this includes the full sale of the Murwillumbah TAFE and also, nearby, a partial sale of the Ballina campus. This is outrageous. I would especially like to condemn the North Coast Nationals for these closures. It shows yet again that in regional and rural areas the Nationals just cannot be trusted. This is their plan to close the TAFEs at Murwillumbah and Ballina. It is a disgrace. The fact is that TAFE plays an important role in our towns, and TAFE means so many local students can access the education and skills they need. Often TAFE provides courses no private provider would deliver. On top of the TAFE closures, it was also reported recently that North Coast TAFE will be restructured and almost 200 jobs will be redefined. Reportedly, up to 60 of these positions will simply disappear and the remaining ones will have reduced conditions on hours and remuneration, another really bad blow for TAFE on the North Coast.

We also heard last week that the Abbott government is looking at a takeover of vocational education, including TAFE. This will just mean more cuts; that is all. In contrast to all the Abbott government's cuts, Labor is committed to supporting TAFE. We understand how important it is for training, and we will make skills and training a national priority. We have a very proud history in this area. Under the previous Labor government, the number of people participating in government funded training grew from 1.2 million in 2007 to 1.5 million in 2013. A Labor government will back TAFE by guaranteeing that a portion of government funding for vocational education is dedicated to public TAFE.

So only Labor really understands the vital role that TAFE plays. On the North Coast, we are very pleased that the shadow minister will be visiting this area very soon, later this month, and she will be talking firsthand to many people who have been severely impacted by the Abbott government's harsh policies when it comes to vocational education and training.

The fact is that our economy has been damaged by the Liberals' and Nationals' $2 billion cut to TAFE and vocational education. In contrast to all this, Labor is the party that believes in investing and training. Labor is backing TAFE. We have said that on many occasions. We know how important TAFE is for training, particularly for our young people for the future. We also believe that every Australian, young or old, whether they live in the city or in the bush, has an equal right to share in the jobs and opportunities of the future, and these cuts that I have outlined have particularly hurt those people in regional and rural areas, particularly our young people, who are desperate to get effective training and access decent education systems. I condemn this government—I particularly condemn the National Party—for its ongoing cuts to regional and rural Australia.

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