Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Free TAFE Bill 2024. I do so with immense pride, because this is not just a nation-building piece of legislation. It is not just giving Australia the tools to thrive into the future and to meet its skills requirements; this is a bill of uplift for Australians and their families right around the country, because, by making fee-free access to hundreds of thousands of TAFE places permanent, we're giving everyday Aussies the keys to learn the skills that create livelihoods for themselves and their loved ones, regardless of their means or background. That is life changing for those Australians, because free access to education for disadvantaged families can be an absolute circuit breaker for cycles of poverty. And we have already seen thousands upon thousands of Aussies enter TAFE to learn skills under the fee-free TAFE agreements struck previously by the Labor government. These are invaluable outcomes—outcomes that are good for people and the economy—that help Australia to fix the skills shortages that desperately need to be addressed.

To go back to the effect that fee-free TAFE is having on families around the country, all of the Labor government's work towards levelling the playing field of education is especially close to my heart, because my community is one of the most disadvantaged metropolitan areas in the country. It's an area where, for many families, if someone wants to engage in education and training at TAFE, they often have to weigh the financial cost of that decision against paying their bills, against caring for their loved ones and against putting food on the table next week. Understandably, those factors can turn people away from TAFE in my community. That's not acceptable from my perspective, and it's not acceptable from the Albanese Labor government's perspective, because no Australian should have to turn down education opportunities. No-one should be giving up the chance to learn skills that will make their lives more fulfilling or more prosperous because they can't afford it. That's why Labor's changing the game with this bill.

But unfortunately we found out this week that such a state of affairs, where Aussies in challenging conditions can't afford to access education, is acceptable to the opposition. The Liberals, by their words and their actions, have indicated that they're more happy to keep everyday Aussies in that position. They're even proud of it. And I say that because the coalition has walked away from supporting this bill. They've walked away from the provision of hundreds of thousands of fee-free TAFE places for Australians, walked away from the opportunities these places provide for families across the country, which this piece of legislation will set in stone.

It's just shocking that this opposition leader had turned his back on Aussies who are doing it tough by trying to shoot down the bill. He's turned his back on Aussies in places like the northern suburbs of Adelaide, on people who can find it extremely difficult to access TAFE affordably. He's turned his back on those Aussies by trying to make it harder for them to access education, by trying to make it harder for families to access opportunities to create a better life, and by trying to make it harder for people to overcome obstacles of disadvantage. It's just beyond belief that the opposition leader and his coalition colleagues would do this.

And what do the Liberals have to say for themselves? How do they justify that decision? In the words of the member for Wannon, who spoke earlier this week on the bill, they did it because 'nothing is free in this world'. In other words, those opposite believe that giving people a chance to go to TAFE, where Aussies otherwise wouldn't be able to, is a waste of money, because, according to the Liberals, those people can't be trusted to receive a helping hand to help them smash barriers of disadvantage, can't be trusted to complete their training. It is an assertion based on the completion rates of mostly three-year courses, when fee-free TAFE has been around for only 18 months.

That lack of trust from the Liberals has been heaped on Australians who are already disadvantaged. They are Aussies who might come from the suburbs of Elizabeth or Salisbury and other disadvantaged suburbs in my electorate and around the country. They're Aussies from the regions, who might have to pay a significant amount of money to travel to TAFE to complete their training. They're Aussies from a First Nations background, Aussies who are women and Aussies with a disability. They're Aussies from three of the most underrepresented demographics in our labour force—being told by the coalition that they don't deserve help to enter it, being told by the opposition leader that they aren't worthy of government support, that their education, their careers, their future, if they see that coming from TAFE, would be money going in the bin.

The wellbeing of Aussies doing it tough, the aspirations of Aussies wanting to forge a future through TAFE to learn skills that are life-changing for them and their loved ones, just isn't worth enough to the coalition. Hence they're saying no to the provision of 100,000 fee-free TAFE places every year. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition and shadow minister for skills has tried to frame it as a case of bad economics. She wants to frame the coalition argument in a way that says: 'We're not anti-TAFE; we're not against the 508,000 Australians, many of whom are already facing disadvantage, who have enrolled in a fee-free TAFE course since the agreement was made. No: it's just that we, the Liberals, don't think we should pay for it.'

To the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and her coalition colleagues, there's just not enough return on investment when a government supports Aussies to lift themselves into training and employment. The Liberals simply don't think Australia gets enough back for those efforts. What a joke that is. Even if you did take that approach, even if you did make an Australian's access to education a monetary cost-benefit analysis, that notion still doesn't stack up. Australia suffers when people can't access education. It leaves our nation well short of the skills and training our population needs to accommodate present and future growth.

The Jobs and skills report 2024, which was released this week, makes that perfectly clear. One of its pillars calls for a much more inclusive workforce, one that is open and easily accessed by the disadvantaged groups of Australians I referred to earlier. And how do we do that? We make education more accessible so that more people can be trained to enter the workforce with the skills needed to keep Australia building onwards and upwards. You'd think that would be obvious to the Liberals opposite. But, lo and behold, following nine long years of a coalition government, a government that ripped $3 billion of funding from the VET system and TAFE, Australia now faces its worst skill shortage in 50 years, caused by the same doctrine then that's inspired them to oppose this bill before the House now. They appear determined to make that shortage worse, which is just unacceptable and, frankly, negligent, because as a nation we're in a position where we need to build 1.2 million homes within the next five years, and we need people with the skills to do that—skills they can get at TAFE—to ensure housing is affordable and accessible.

We're also in a position where 44 per cent of all new jobs created within the next five years will require a VET qualification at least. People need the skills to become employable, especially if they're of lesser means, and they can get those skills at TAFE. It would be absolutely disastrous for Australia if they didn't have access to that training and were barred from the workforce as a result.

That's a huge part of why the Labor government has put forward this bill—to address the skills shortage and, in turn, to address both of those issues, as well as other shortages in the industries of care, defence, manufacturing and agriculture, by giving Aussies the opportunity to enter those industries, no matter who they are, where they're from or how much they earn, and fill that skill gap. And, to perk up the ears of the incredible economic managers across the chamber, the coalition, doing so will prevent the untold economic damage that skill shortages will cause if ignored, as they are seeking to do, given their position on this bill.

To respond to that purely fiscal cost-benefit analysis from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and her colleagues—assuming that was justified anyway—whatever amount of money the Liberals think they're going to save this country by opposing this bill, whether that's because they deem the 508,000 enrolments in fee-free TAFE courses to be wasteful spending, to quote the Deputy Leader of the Opposition; because they don't think disadvantaged groups of Aussies can be trusted to take advantage of access to education; or because they don't think that giving people the tools to get an education and getting meaningful employment is worth it—whatever money they think is going to be saved from those notions, Australia stands to lose far, far more than that if fee-free access to TAFE to fix the skill shortage is left unchecked.

Their argument collapses even more when you consider their position against the relationship between people enrolled in VET courses and income support recipients. The jobs and skills report has indicated, referring to the VET National Data Asset, that, of VET graduates who were on income support prior to commencing their study, 39 per cent were no longer on income support after two years of completion. That is statistical, hard evidence of the benefit VET can have for Aussies on income support—Aussies who are much more likely to be in disadvantaged circumstances.

You would think that those opposite, for all of the wasteful spending they continue to allege of this government and for all of their crusading against the very idea of income support in general, would want to get Australians doing it tough on their feet to support themselves and their loved ones—but apparently not. Their efforts against this bill are an attempt to make life for Aussies already doing it tough even tougher.

As you can see, like many on this side of the chamber, I'm struggling to comprehend why the Liberals are doing this. In that pursuit, I keep looking at the astonishing comment made by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition yesterday on the bill. She said:

… remember this, and it's a key principle … of the Liberal Party: if you don't pay for something, you don't value it.

What on earth is that supposed to mean in the context of this bill? All I can get from that is that a key principle of the Liberal Party is that they believe a government can't trust an Australian's judgement about what's valuable to them. Say you're one of the 508,000 enrolments across the country in a fee-TAFE course. Is this key principle of the Liberal Party suggesting that someone who is in a priority demographic under the agreement, with clear and present barriers to education, doesn't know what they want? Is that line trying to say that they're wrong in deciding to gain valuable skills to enter the workforce and potentially lift themselves and others out of poverty, just because the course they're enrolling in is free and just because a helping hand is finally there to help Aussies get around the barrier of cost to better access our world-class education system and the workforce beyond? What an unbelievably offensive notion—a key Liberal Party principle, mind you, put forward by those opposite. It's a direct attack on the aspiration of Australians who come from challenging backgrounds—an attack on their hopes and dreams.

Even worse, that statement is a complete and utter insult to the intelligence of people coming from areas of disadvantage—from places like Davoren Park, Elizabeth North and Munno Para in my electorate of Spence. That statement says that those top-end-of-town pollies of the coalition think they know better than the decisions you make. They think they know more about the conditions you're in than you do. How dare the Liberals prescribe their personal values onto the backs of Aussies doing it tough? How dare they project their own assertions, based on their wealth and the privileges they enjoy in this place, onto families in our communities who live week to week, as if politicians know their lives better than they do? And how dare those opposite use this bill to question the intelligence of the Australian public, to weaponise the decision-making of Aussies who just want to educate themselves? How dare those opposite take 508,000 enrolments into fee-free TAFE courses and turn it into point scoring?

I'll always stand up to that, and the Albanese Labor government will always stand up to it with me. We know that by enshrining fee-free TAFE in legislation, as we're doing in this bill, to build on the crucial outcomes so far under the current agreement, we're giving the keys of opportunity to Aussies to help them break down barriers and thrive as they learn the skills to give them the future they want, regardless of who they are, where they're from and what they earn, and regardless of what the opposition think of their choices. With their position on this bill, the opposition leader, his deputy and the Liberal Party will continue to heap disadvantage on those who are already disadvantaged. But the Albanese Labor government will never stop fighting on that front, and I will never stop fighting to support those who need it most. I commend this bill to the House.

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