Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to be speaking on the Free TAFE Bill 2024 today. I'm especially pleased to be speaking on it today, of all days, because today in New South Wales—my state—it's the start of semester 1 2025. It is a day to be celebrating TAFE and all that it provides and also to be speaking on this really important bill in terms of how committed the Albanese Labor government is to providing fee-free TAFE and of the difference that it's making in the lives of so many Australians.

The Free TAFE Bill 2024 provides ongoing financial support to the states and territories for the delivery of fee-free TAFE places and ensures that it's in place and supports the delivery of at least 100,000 places across Australia each year from 2027. What it does is reaffirm our government's commitment to putting TAFE right at the heart of vocational education and training. We understand how important that is. This also removes those financial barriers to education and training, particularly for those people experiencing economic disadvantage. Very especially, it supports education and training in areas of high workforce demand with emerging skill needs that really are a national priority.

I add that across the nation this is a game changer, especially in regional and rural areas like my electorate of Richmond on the New South Wales North Coast. Having such a policy in place has made such a difference. There are approximately 5,000 people who have had access to fee-free TAFE since this was brought in. I have met many of those students, and they have talked about how it has been life changing. They couldn't afford to go to TAFE without this in place and they are getting the necessary skills to work in much-needed sectors. Often in regional and rural areas there are impediments to gaining access to further training, and that's exactly why we have this in place: so people can get access. In my region we also have a series of outstanding TAFE facilities—indeed, as they are right across the country—and I visited many of those. We've particularly got ones at Kingscliff, Byron, Ballina and Murwillumbah. They're very new ones, particularly in Byron Bay.

It's great having them there, speaking to all of those students and hearing what a difference it makes in their lives. It shows how important it is to have a Labor government in place delivering all of these important changes. Labor has always committed to investing in the skills that our nation needs to drive economic growth. It's vitally important. We're also committed to making sure no-one is left behind and nobody is held back as our economy transitions. Indeed, fee-free TAFE has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians, providing cost-of-living relief and a pathway to well-paid and secure employment. In fact, in the first 18 months of fee-free TAFE, as we heard the minister say today, there have been nearly 600,000 enrolments. That's a huge number across the nation. This bill establishes ongoing relief by removing financial barriers to education and training, and it really also ensures that fee-free TAFE continues to deliver a coordinated response to the pipeline of skilled workers that our nation needs now and into the future.

We have a responsibility to help people here and now when it comes to training and we do owe a duty to the next generation to build an economy. That really does start with education for all—every Australian, no matter where they live, their background or their financial situation. They should be able to access education. We believe in equal opportunity. By making TAFE free, we're removing that financial barrier. The fact is that our whole nation benefits in terms of economic growth as well as the individual's capacity to get secure employment.

The cost of inaction, of course, is so much higher. Failing to invest in up skilling our people will leave so many industries and businesses stranded and leave so many people out of fulfilling their full potential as well. We are, across so many levels, committed to delivering on skills development. The fact is that TAFE is at the heart of vocational education and training and you can't have a strong VET sector without strong public TAFE at its heart. TAFEs are very valued and trusted public institutions and have a long history of delivering training in the public interest and working to meet so many goals that our nation needs. I visit some of the TAFEs in my community, and of course they're in every community across the country. Every Australian deserves to access them.

In fact, a Labor government will never ever consider fee-free TAFE wasteful spending, as we heard from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. It really says it all about the Liberals' and Nationals' approach to public education or, indeed, any great services—in this case, public education. They don't understand it, don't value it, don't care about it and don't invest in it. We certainly do. We understand its worth. Of course, our government, by making all these strong commitments, is reversing a lot of the damage that we saw from the previous Liberal-National government—the damage over a decade. We are rebuilding TAFEs for communities across the nation. We made the landmark $30 billion, five-year National Skills Agreement and we're taking other actions, such as going after dodgy providers so that quality providers can in fact do their work properly.

As we've pointed out many times in this House, the risk of the opposition leader and the Liberals and Nationals getting into government is that people will be worse off, and one of the ways in which they'll be worse off is through the inevitable cuts we will see, yet again, to TAFE. Whenever those opposite are in government one of the first things they do is slash all of the funding for TAFE and VET training. We know that will happen again. We know they're claiming they'll be making $350 billion in cuts across the board. Whether they be to Medicare, to the age pension or to TAFE training, they will be catastrophic for our nation. Of course, the opposition leader told us the other day, in an interview, that they're not going to announce any of these cuts till after the election, but Australians know that they will be so much worse off and just cannot risk a Liberal-National government. When those opposite have been in government, we have, at every turn, fought their harsh cuts to TAFE. And when we have been in government we have invested record amounts to make sure that people can access all of these important services.

I know from meeting young people who are training at TAFE or older people going back to reskill that it is life-changing for them. Today was the start of semester 1, 2025, and in my electorate of Richmond on the New South Wales North Coast we were very pleased to have the New South Wales Minister for Skills TAFE and Tertiary Education, Steve Whan. Unfortunately, I couldn't be there this time. Minister Whan has been up to the North Coast many times. I've visited a number of TAFEs with him, and I know that he and the Minns state Labor government are equally committed to ensuring provisions are made for our TAFE. In fact, Minister Whan was there today announcing the introduction of the new TAFE NSW Charter, which is a great idea. It lets the people of New South Wales know what they should expect from TAFE as the provider at the heart of vocational training. The charter reflects TAFE NSW as an important public asset, a community space, an industry partner and a leader of educational quality and innovation within the broader VET sector. I congratulate the New South Wales government on making that announcement today and on making it in my electorate, which I was very pleased about. I thank the minister for making the announcement there. In fact, he made it at TAFE in Kingscliff, which an outstanding institution. There is a $33 million government investment to upgrade that particular facility. They also have one of the TAFE call centres there, so it is a huge institution providing a whole range of really good services. That $33 million investment includes a new learning space for health services students, which is important as well.

There are a whole range of initiatives that our government has when it comes to training and supporting younger Australians, particularly when we look at higher education contributions. Last year in this House we passed legislation to wipe $3 billion of student debt for three million Australians. I know so many people locally who've had cuts to the HECS debt, and it has made a huge difference. Of course, that's part of our broader cost-of-living relief measures. We know people are doing it tough and we know many people with these HECS debts are doing it tough. Many people have received the good news that the legislation we passed last year fixed the way indexation of student debt was calculated, and many people have had that cut to their debt as well.

We announced last year as well that a re-elected Albanese government would wipe 20 per cent off student loans, and at the same time we announced we'd make fee-free TAFE permanent. Having 20 per cent off their HECS debts will be a huge benefit to so many students right across the nation, particularly those in regional and rural areas. We are committed to doing that if we are re-elected. Again, I present the alternative. The Liberals and Nationals didn't support any of that. They don't support any of our cost-of-living measures. On top of all that, they'll be cutting many important training initiatives as well.

So we have announced a whole range of measures, including also the $10,000 for apprentices. Right across the board we're investing in training, and we're assisting students with their HECS debts as well, because we really value education. It's why we have this in place and why we made those commitments leading up to the election. Of course, they are all part of a broader suite of measures that we have worked on and delivered when it comes to cost-of-living relief. We understand that people are doing it tough. It is hard, and that's why we've had all of these measures in place.

I will point out that every single one of those measures was opposed by the Liberals and Nationals, and they have to go and explain to people in their communities why they opposed a tax cut for every taxpayer. In my region there were 71,000 people who benefited from that. It's vitally important. We also had the $300 energy bill relief. It's so important for people to have that energy bill relief, and of course it was opposed by those opposite. We also have cheaper childcare and cheaper medicines that are helping people every day. And there's fee-free TAFE, which is absolutely vital. All of those measures mean that we're helping Australians right now. We understand they're doing it tough.

We've seen the increase in wages, and we committed to and delivered that increase in wages particularly for our aged-care and childcare workers, who are so valued. Again, that was all opposed by those opposite. All of those cost-of-living measures were opposed, and we often say to people that that's the risk the Liberals and Nationals pose. It's a fact that people would be a lot worse off if the coalition were to ever be in government, and that's just from looking at their record of opposing vital cost-of-living relief, whereas we on the Labor side are absolutely committed to making sure that's in place.

In this bill, it all revolves around fee-free TAFE and the difference that it makes. The take-up rate of that has been absolutely phenomenal, and the number is 5,000 people in my electorate, which is absolutely huge. There would not be anyone who isn't aware or touched by this, whether it be the student, their families or their friends. People often talk about how being able to access fee-free TAFE has transformed someone's life, and making sure that people can access that is one of our core election commitments. Also, the 20 per cent cut to HECS debts is really important as well.

We're very proud to yet again be investing in education, training and skills. As much as that is life changing for individuals, their families and communities, in terms of our nation's economic prosperity we desperately need to have all these workers. It is a win-win all round. It's only Labor governments that continue to invest in building the training and skills for workers now and into the future whilst also ensuring that our economy has an incredible skilled workforce to meet the demands now and into the future. It is only Labor that consistently delivers increases in training and education right across the board. I very proudly commend this bill to the House.

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