Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the motion moved by the member for Forde. In this country, we have a housing shortage. There are many factors we need to fix to alleviate this problem and to get Australians into their own homes, to rekindle that great Australian dream of homeownership that, for many, has become the great Australian nightmare under this Labor government.

One issue that must be addressed is the tradie shortage, not only in the building and construction industry but across many sectors. When I speak to owners of small and medium-sized businesses, one of the major issues they cite is a lack of skilled workers that are suitable for the job vacancies they have. Much of this issue has been created over decades, with pressure from governments, society and parents encouraging university education. I've got no problem with university education; we need it. We need doctors, physiotherapists, teachers, nurses and the like but not at the expense of plumbers, hairdressers, chippies, and retail and hospitality workers.

I cannot count the number of parents and young people who have felt pressured or guilted into taking on a university degree, even though university wasn't something they had a great interest in. I spoke to a young man recently who had done two years, reluctantly, at university after feeling pressured by well-meaning staff at school and his parents to enter university. He spoke to me of his depression and feelings of failure as he simply could not cope with the academic demands of higher education. Frustrated, he finally left and for the past 12 months he's started a small business doing bond cleaning for real estate. He is now earning a good income, and, more importantly, he is as happy as a pig in mud.

BuildSkills Australia, the national Jobs and Skills Council for the construction sector, informs us that Australia needs to urgently find an extra 90,000 skilled tradespeople to meet Labor's housing targets and that our construction industry faces a workforce shortfall of 40 per cent by 2040. This point was conceded by the housing minister, Clare O'Neil, at the recent Australian Financial Review Property Summit in September. Ironically, as home affairs minister previous to her current portfolio, she had the authority to make evidence based policy decisions. Instead, the exact opposite decision was made, excluding tradies from the specialist skills pathway, which is the highest priority visa. Simply put, she put tradies at the bottom of the pile.

The normal practice of the headline announcement with no substance has been part of this issue. The fee-free TAFE initiative sounds good in theory, but the data reveals a different story. First of all, nothing is free. Someone always pays. In this case, that is the taxpayer. The Australian government is simply a steward of the taxpayers' money. It is incumbent on us to ensure they are getting the best bang for their buck. Only 13 per cent of students who enrol in fee-free TAFE actually graduate, and I note here that, in contrast, the completion rate in private RTOs is over 80 per cent. So I ask the question: where should the government be directing funds—to an organisation that turns a 13 per cent completion rate or one that returns an 80 per cent completion rate? In one of the most damning statistics in Victoria, just one per cent of those who registered for a fee-free TAFE certificate IV in plumbing successfully completed their training. The facts are 80 per cent of Australians who get a skill each year obtain that skill from a RTO other than TAFE, so why no investment when these organisations are producing better outcomes?

Labor have attacked the coalition, criticising our position—that is, if you don't pay for something you don't value it. For those who have the view that there is little difference between the two major parties, this statement pretty well sums up the difference between the two parties: how dare the Australian people expect a return on their hard-earned tax dollars—sarcastic tone intended? The best measure is how many students who enrol actually get a job in the profession that the taxpayers paid for in their training. You can't even get data on this. I suspect this is to hide the numbers that would leave people aghast.

Of course TAFE needs to be part of the training sector but, just as public schools are one part of the education mix with independent, Catholic and home-schooling also contributing a vital part of the school education system, private RTOs and employers need to be part of the VET sector and, under this government, they are being neglected. Surely COVID taught us that the 'all eggs in one basket' approach leads to disaster.

At the end of the previous coalition government there were 429,000 apprentices and trainees in training. Since this Labor government took office that has dropped by 85,000, and commencements have dropped to 166,200. It is time to vote the coalition in at the next election and get Australia back on track.

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