Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The question I want to ask is this: when will the government get the message that, outside of their own personal ideological bubble, the broader Australian community does not want corporate Australia to be handed $80 billion of tax cuts in the hope it will create jobs and secure people's futures whilst cutting schools and hospitals in the process. If the government has been listening at all to the Australian community, it would have noticed that they're fiercely resistant to and downright offended by the prospect that the big end of town, including the banks, will actually put the welfare of the community ahead of their own profits. Revelations in the banking royal commission confirm just how much big business and corporate culture values or cares about the welfare of people.

In my seat of Calwell, we have bitter experiences of the so-called trickle-down economics on which the government repeatedly bases the benefits of its corporate tax cuts. We have seen thousands of jobs lost because big business has taken its business offshore, leaving people unemployed and leaving families in the lurch, from Pacific Brands to Goodyear, Yakka and Autoliv, just to name a few. That's why my constituents aren't buying the government's sales pitch. At a time when they're struggling to make ends meet, this government is prepared to make cuts to vital services in education and health—$17 billion from schools and $715 million from hospitals.

Each school in my electorate deserves all the resources it can get in order to assist our students to develop to the very best of their abilities. My local schools—public, non-government and in the Catholic school sector—serve a community that varies in socioeconomic status. Our enormous intake of refugees from Syria and Iraq has placed pressure on many of my local public and Catholic schools. Seventy per cent of the students at the Good Samaritan Catholic Primary School in Roxburgh Park are refugees, mostly newly arrived. This is a great school, a compassionate school that is very happy to have the students, but the government's $17 billion cut to schools will further disadvantage its students and our local school community. The Labor Party has its priorities right. Education is vital. It enables and it transforms. That's why we have committed to fully restoring the $17 billion of cuts made by this out-of-touch government.

In trying to sell the government's corporate tax cuts for multinationals and big banks, the Prime Minister talks about the importance of investment, but he seems to be oblivious to the fact that directly investing in education and skills, especially in TAFE, will reap greater benefits for my constituents and for all Australians. It's the people, Prime Minister. Investing in our people should be our priority. Since coming to government in 2013, the Liberals have cut more than $3 billion from skills, training and apprentices. Today there are 140,000 fewer apprentices than there were when they took office. The 2018 budget saw a further cut of $270 million from TAFE and training. There are 41,000 fewer trade apprentices in training, while employer groups are reporting shortages in trades and technical occupations, particularly in construction and engineering. These are opportunities for training and employment pathways that my constituents, especially the young people in my electorate, are missing out on. The government should prioritise skilling and educating Australians rather than lining the pockets of big business.

Because Labor will not be giving multinationals and the big banks an $80 billion tax cut, we can afford to invest in our people, in the Australian people. Giving Australians an affordable and real opportunity should be our priority, not leaving them dependent on the wing and a prayer of trickle-down economics. We will waive up-front fees for 100,000 TAFE places, we will guarantee at least two-thirds of public vocational education funding for TAFE, and we will invest in a new $100 million Building TAFE for the Future Fund to revitalise TAFE campuses and facilities in regional and outer metropolitan areas. This is great news and will be very welcomed by my constituents, because it means that the Kangan Institute, our local TAFE, will be able to rebuild its capacity, having endured so many cuts that recently it had to close its library. This government needs to understand that investing in our people is— (Time expired)

See this speech in context