Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Pearce for her question and for being an absolute champion of public TAFE. She knows that, under our government, more than half a million Australians have enrolled in fee-free TAFE courses and that we have put public TAFE back at the heart of training following a decade of neglect under the Liberals.

We are committed to rebuilding our vocational education and training centre. Fee-free TAFE is fundamental to that, supporting key industries that are experiencing skill shortages and those areas of emerging growth and opportunity. We are helping jobseekers get a new start, young people get trained for a new career and older workers, too, as the Prime Minister said, to explore new opportunities. One in three places have been people in the regions. Six in 10 enrolments have been women.

This is why the Prime Minister announced on Sunday that the Albanese Labor government will be legislating to establish free TAFE as an enduring feature of our skills system—100,000 places every year from 2027. This is attracting great support, such as from the CEO of TAFE SA, who said: 'This commitment to public education and ensuring all Australians have access to quality vocational education means we will deliver the workforce of the future through the TAFE network, building on the investments of the past to create a prosperous future for all Australians.' The students at CIT Canberra, who I visited with the member for Canberra this morning, when they were asked whether our government should make free TAFE an enduring feature said, 'Yes, absolutely.' Fee-free TAFE is changing their lives.

I touched upon earlier the students I met doing diplomas of nursing. Two of them are just 10 hours away from completing their studies. One is Caitlin, a veteran and a single mum with an extraordinary story, seizing an extraordinary opportunity. Others are studying a Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care. Two are refugees from Sudan and Afghanistan determined to give something back to this country. Brandon is a young man excited to take on a role in early learning and to be a role model.

Those opposite reckon fee-free TAFE is wasteful spending. No Labor government will call it that. The students I met this morning certainly don't. We have opened the door for them to get the skills they need without tuition fees. Now they are on their way to build careers which will help us all build Australia's future. So I am very pleased and proud to say that, as long as there is a Labor government, free TAFE is here to stay.

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