Ross Hart (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Surprise, surprise. We have contributions from honourable members on this side of the House but not a squeak, not a skerrick, from the other side. They are too embarrassed or too lazy to turn up to justify and support their own legislation. I rise today to speak on the Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP Student Protection) Bill 2018 that is currently before the House. This bill provides a remedy for students who have incurred debts from unscrupulous providers under the previous VET FEE-HELP loan scheme. The bill will introduce a broad remedy for students who have incurred a VET FEE-HELP debt as a result of inappropriate conduct by VET providers or their agents.

Labor welcomes the recrediting of the debts of thousands of students who were ripped off by dodgy for-profit training providers. More than 6,000 students have complained to the ombudsman after being charged VET FEE-HELP for courses they did not undertake. Only a small number have received relief from those unfair debts. Students should never have been expected to pay debts racked up by dodgy for-profit training providers that went rogue under this government's watch. Many students have been saddled with these unfair VET FEE-HELP debts for years. This is another example of this dysfunctional government doing very little to help ordinary Australians who are trying to become valued, skilled members of our society.

The vocational education system has fallen into crisis on the Liberal Party's watch. With five ministers in three years and a blowout in the cost of the VET FEE-HELP scheme, it is clear that this government simply doesn't care about education, much less vocational education, nor do they care about TAFE. The government knew or should have known how much money was rolling out to the providers. They knew that the great majority of students weren't graduating. They knew or ought to have known how much money the shonky operators were making.

What is the extent of the problem? We hear that students have been tricked by unscrupulous providers into racking up massive debts. We hear also that thousands of qualifications in Victoria and elsewhere have been cancelled because, seemingly, they were not worth the paper they were written on, despite the significant debts incurred. Where was the government when all of this was happening? This occurred on a lazy government's watch. How can they possibly justify to taxpayers their failure to do anything about it? Well, the answer to that is clear: they have not fronted up to explain that. This would be an embarrassment to a competent government, but this dysfunctional government has failed to act for more than five years. It now finally acts. Labor welcomes the students getting some relief, finally.

In 2014, the then education minister, Christopher Pyne, was warned of the dismal completion rates under the scheme. However, the government just sat on their hands. Meanwhile, providers continued to exploit vulnerable people and to rip off students. Despite concerns about appalling recruitment practices, in particular, at Careers Australia—these concerns were raised publicly in 2015—the coalition continued to provide and fund loans until Careers Australia eventually collapsed in May 2017. That collapse left thousands of students stranded and thousands of workers without jobs, and that was after milking this coalition government of 600 million of taxpayers' dollars. It is instructive to review the scale of the escalation of malpractice in this area. From 2009, Labor provided VET FEE-HELP scheme loans of $1.4 billion over five years, which was about $280 million in loans per year. Under the coalition, those loans skyrocketed to $1.8 billion in 2014 and a staggering $3 billion in 2015. That totalled to $6 billion from 2014 to 2016. That was overwhelmingly to private providers.

In addition to this, the Liberals have provided no leadership on VET. Ignoring the underlying flaws in the vocational education system, they have instead continued to cut funding and support to skills formation. The Productivity Commission has called the system 'a mess'. The OECD has reported that Australia doesn't have the skills to engage effectively with global value chains. What an embarrassment this government is. A recent independent report authored by Terry Moran, one of the original architects of the national system, says it is fragmented and devalued, there is no effective governance, the funding arrangements are chaotic and there is no overarching national strategy.

It is clear that TAFE has been the poor cousin even within that devalued sector, with the increased reliance upon private providers over the last 20 years. We can't have the situation where the public sector is responsible for the really capital-intensive areas or difficult delivery areas. We can't have a situation where investment in the private sector is supported the dodgy providers, who in turn have been picking the high-value but low-quality areas in our vocational training whilst offering iPads to people interested in signing up to courses without regard to any sort of outcome.

I do emphasise that there are some very good operators, particularly in Northern Tasmania within my constituency, that have been doing some fantastic things, working closely with industry and being very industry responsive. I have met with those good quality providers in person to understand what they see as the drivers of high-quality outcomes in vocational education. But, for all that, I strongly believe our public TAFE needs to be recognised again and supported, not just with fond memories for past days when TAFE ruled vocational training, but with real support and real capital funding. Money needs to be spent on refurbishment and replacement of facilities that are no longer up to standard anymore. There needs to be focus upon technical and further education as being a legitimate alternative to our perfectly appropriate attention to university training.

Our manufacturing sector in Northern Tasmania is particularly used to having thousands of highly skilled and well-paid people. It relied upon the fact they either had a TAFE education or trained on the job, many in the apprenticeship system. There is a bright future based around advanced manufacturing, building things very smartly, rather than volume production. Australian manufacturers can't compete with mass produced goods from overseas but can focus on highly skilled or discrete trades, where we have demonstrated expertise.

I bring to the House's attention a company called Definium Technologies, a local Launceston business that is successfully winning business to build low-volume complex circuit boards, single boards, computers and sensors. This is a highly specialised area of manufacturing, exploiting the internet of things. With computer boards, sensors, communications devices and new technology being manufactured in Northern Tasmania, I see the potential, for example, for substantial employment within defence-related contracting in Tasmania, employment that doesn't necessarily demand a university degree but does demand people that are highly skilled in trades like electronic engineering. These skills may ultimately lead towards a university degree, but the starting point for a future that encompasses well-paid jobs in advanced manufacturing has to, in my submission, be the reinvestment by government in trade and vocational education.

Since they were elected, the Liberals have cut more than $3 billion from TAFE, skills and apprenticeships. In his last budget as Treasurer, now Prime Minister Scott Morrison cut a further $270 million from apprenticeship funding over the next four years. For more than a year, this coalition has failed to spend a cent out of its flawed Skilling Australians Fund on an apprenticeship. All Australian should have access throughout their working lives to the education, skills and training that they need for decent jobs that allow them to live good, productive and fulfilling lives and, above all, to be active members of our communities. Labor believes that no-one should be excluded from access to vocational education and training because of financial disadvantage. They shouldn't be excluded due to course costs, fear of taking on debt or regional disadvantage.

VET, TAFE and apprenticeships are absolutely crucial to jobs and crucial to Australia's economy. A skilled and educated workforce is a national economic priority, and TAFE is the lifeblood of our vocational education and training system. Labor knows that TAFE is the backbone of our apprenticeship and technical skills education system, which is why we took a TAFE funding guarantee to the last election. There are some 28,000 people in Tasmania currently enrolled in TAFE—individuals, all of them who know firsthand the first-class skills and opportunities that going to TAFE can provide to them. Indeed, generations of Australians can attest to the importance of TAFE for our economy and for delivering the skills and knowledge necessary to ensure that Australia remains competitive on the global market.

How obvious this is to those on this side of the House! But it's clear that those on the other side—the Liberals and Nationals—just do not get it. At both the state and federal levels they appear to have an ideological problem with TAFE. This is exemplified by the fact that apprenticeship numbers have been in freefall under this government—down 30 per cent since the government came to power, or 130,000 fewer apprenticeships under the Liberals. Labor will restore public TAFE as the major provider in the vocational education and training system. Labor has always championed quality apprenticeships and will continue to ensure that more Australians can follow that trusted path into decent work.

The Labor inquiry into post-secondary education will also build on the best of Australia's vocational education and training systems, and repair the damage done by unscrupulous, for-profit providers and the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government neglect. This government has clearly failed the VET sector in that they've not done what is best for students, they've not done what is best for industry and they've not done what is best for employers. What they now offer up in this bill is to be welcomed, but it is much delayed.

It's time for an election, so that Labor can restore TAFE. Labor knows that education, in all of its forms—whether it's higher education through university degrees or whether it's technical and further education in the public sector or the private sector—is the key to happy, healthy and vibrant communities. It's the key to the sort of flexibility that will put a young person on a lifelong road towards employment and being able to be re-skilled as opportunities come along. The provision of technical, vocational, creative and semiprofessional skills through VET, TAFE and apprenticeships is absolutely vital to the growth of our economy and to the wellbeing of our local communities.

If we look at the priorities that this government offers, up until recently all it was talking about was a one-point economic plan which consisted of tax cuts—tax cuts which were supposed to trickle down magically and provide greater income or greater economic activity. We on this side of the House know that real investment in education at all levels, starting with the very youngest Australians right through to primary school, secondary school and then to education at a tertiary level in universities and TAFE, will truly drive the transformation of the Australian economy. We cannot have the OECD giving us a black mark for the fact that we have a system which is not fit for purpose. We can do better, we need a government that cares about technical and further education and that's a Labor government, if elected.

See this speech in context