Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"the House calls on the government to recommend an appropriation from the Governor-General consistent with the request from the Senate."

Last night, the Senate made perfectly clear that they agree with Labor that it is time to stand up and protect our TAFE system. Today, the government has the opportunity, belatedly, to get on board. This is too important for us to ignore. What we know is that the measures within this bill will rip $7 billion out of our vocational education sector. That is something that the government agrees with, that the government states. But what they have not done is said in any way that they will help to protect quality providers, that they will stand up for the not-for-profits who will be hit hard and, most importantly, how they will ensure that this does not have a further and a devastating impact on our TAFE sector.

We know that TAFE is the backbone of our system and that TAFE, along with the innocent students, has suffered the most in recent years from Liberal cuts and mismanagement at both the federal and state level. Today, Labor stands here and says enough is enough. Last night in the Senate the crossbench stood with us and said enough is enough. Because the truth is that a new national partnership is due at the end of next June in order to outline how TAFE will be supported—how the government will ensure that they do not have to cut more courses, lose more teachers, close more classes and campuses. But this government is not even committing to putting a new national partnership in place.

In fact, just a couple of weeks ago the assistant minister, when asked about it, said, 'Well, if you want more money, you better go and speak to the Treasurer.' Well, no, Assistant Minister, that is actually your job. Your job is to go and speak to the Treasurer and make sure that there is a strong national partnership in place that will support our vocational educational sector. But if you do not want to do your job, that is fine because the Australian Labor Party, and now the Senate, are going to stand up and demand that it be done nevertheless. We stand up and demand that TAFE be supported until a new national partnership is in place and there are appropriate funds flowing towards our TAFE providers.

We know that TAFE has not been part of the VET FEE-HELP problem. Over 95 per cent of the quality complaints to the Australian Skills Quality Authority about quality relate to providers outside of TAFE. Public providers, including TAFE, in fact make up less than five per cent of complaints. TAFEs also have significantly higher unit completion rates than some of the private providers, at 77 per cent versus 59 per cent, so we know there is a clear indication that the TAFE system is not responsible for the dodgy practices that we have seen unfold under this government. TAFE is not responsible for the rorts that have been allowed to waste millions and millions of taxpayer dollars. Yet, TAFEs will be hit and hit hard, as well as other providers, if this government does not stand up and take action.

We have some dire concerns about the implementation of these reforms. We have said to the government that we will not stand in the way of the reforms to VET FEE-HELP—in fact, they are based on our policy. But, we have warned them that they need to get the course list right and they need to make sure that they also have the correct caps in place, and we do not do not think that they are there. That is why our leader, the Leader of the Opposition, wrote to the Prime Minister calling on him to intervene and make sure it is right, because we are here on the last sitting day and, just now, the government is trying to get support for legislation that they want to see come into place on 1 January. We are saying, if you want to put this in place on 1 January, you must join with Labor and make sure that TAFE is protected. You must stand up and you must make sure that there are protections in place, particularly for not-for-profit providers, but for all of those quality providers who are going to be hit and hit hard.

The really sad thing about this is the government knows that there will be quality providers who are going to be hit hard as a result of these measures, but they are not prepared to do anything about it. Just a couple of weeks ago, Minister Birmingham said, 'I am sorry for innocent parties who are caught up in the reforms that are being put in place.' Well, sorry is not good enough; sorry is not good enough for our TAFE system, sorry is not good enough for a vocational education sector. Labor will stand up and fight for these reforms, and the Senate has joined us. The government must now get on board.

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