Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor government are all about opportunity. We are the party of opportunity. The Albanese government is the government of opportunity, and the Albanese Labor government believes in equality of opportunity. That starts with a good education for all. Every Australian, no matter their background or financial situation, should have equal access to education—no-one held back, no-one left behind. I'm here in this parliament today because my family and I were given a fair go under a number of visionary Labor policies, particularly around education.

I'm the very proud son of Egyptian migrants who were very big on a good education to give us a go in life, and I received it in Australia. It allowed me to be standing here in the parliament today. I was able to, of course, get a good primary and secondary education, attend university and get the training I wanted, do postgrad studies and have a career that has spanned the private sector, the Public Service, business, politics of course, and so on. It was an education that opened up the doors of opportunity for me. It gave me the chance to make a contribution, as it has for millions of other Australians.

The Albanese Labor government is committed to creating an aspirational and accessible education system so that no-one ever has to choose between an education and putting food on the table. We on this side of the House know that we have a responsibility to help people here and now and a duty to the next generation of Australians. I obviously feel this very deeply, given the impact it's had on my life, which is why I'm standing here talking about this really important bill, the Free TAFE Bill. This bill commits the Commonwealth to ongoing support to states and territories for free TAFE. Supporting the VET and TAFE sector is in Labor's DNA. Labor are reversing the damage of a decade and rebuilding TAFE for communities across Australia. The government has made a landmark $30 billion, five-year national skills agreement with states and territories, lifting investment in skills across Australia, alongside the Albanese government's growing investment in fee-free TAFE.

We're also going after dodgy providers so that quality providers can do their work properly, because Labor knows that a reliable and trusted vocational education and training sector is critical for building our economy and creating a future made in Australia. TAFEs are trusted partners in this vision, driving quality improvements across the VET sector, leading on innovative teaching and learning practices, and assisting industries to develop skilled workforces. These things are critical. You can't have a strong VET sector without strong, public technical and further education, TAFE—we always use the acronym, but that's what TAFE stands for—at its heart.

Labor's fee-free TAFE has already changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians, providing cost-of-living relief and a pathway to well-paid and secure employment. In the first 18 months of fee-free TAFE there have been 508,000 enrolments. I want the opposition to think about that number: 508,000 additional enrolments. That means 508,000 Australians have an opportunity to get a quality education. Unlike those opposite, this Labor government will never consider fee-free TAFE to be, in the words of their deputy leader, wasteful spending. That's what she said, in this place.

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