Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

It's always lovely to listen to the member for Flinders. I'm actually very fond of the member for Flinders. I don't want to jinx you. I don't want to jinx you on your side. This is not a doxing. But I've actually used you as an example in a conversation that I put on the public record only last week. The fact that you're on the backbench after such an accomplished speech, a professional woman who has actually been interested in public policy, and people like the chap here are on the frontbench says everything that's wrong about the modern Liberal Party—when someone of your intellect and contribution over decades is sitting up there. But, anyway, there you go.

Thank you—he called me a loser. Thanks. We'll put that on the record too. It says more about you than me. But it is surreal, isn't it? At least that was a reasoned contribution. Most of it had nothing to do with the Free TAFE Bill; it was about the Victorian government. Most of it was to do with state government policies on the trading sector, but there you go. But using a reasonable voice doesn't make reason from nonsense. We've had speaker after speaker from the opposition, from the Liberal and National parties, at least coming clean about the choice, or one aspect of the choice, that Australians will face at the coming election—the Liberals will cut free TAFE, and this Labor government will invest in free TAFE. This bill means that free TAFE is here to stay.

It's a cost-of-living policy to lower the cost and lower the barriers, particularly for kids from the suburbs and regions like the place I represent in outer south-east Melbourne, to actually access skills and training and provide that pathway into good, well-paid, secure, skilled jobs. But it's also smart economic policy. It is an investment in skills to drive our economic growth. It's critical. It's good for the economy. It's good for wages. It's good for employment. It's good for Australians. And it also reduces reliance on migration. It's not rocket science that if you train more Australians and you don't do what they did over their wasted decade of decay and dysfunction, cutting billions from TAFE and the training and apprenticeships system, if you actually invest in training and skilling Australians, you reduce reliance on migration. That's what I'm up for. I'm up for giving Australians in the suburbs and the regions a chance at a good, well-paid job by removing those barriers to them pursuing careers.

One of the things about free TAFE is that it allows governments to incentivise students to choose the courses in the areas of skill shortage that the economy needs. Last week, I was at Chisholm TAFE, which has campuses in Dandenong and Berwick in my electorate. It's absolutely fantastic talking to the free TAFE students in nursing, in manufacturing and in construction related trades, actually getting a start. So it's a cost-of-living measure and an economic measure. For nursing, health care, construction, energy and technology, it provides pathways to good, secure jobs.

It has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians already. I think the latest data was that around 568,000 Australians in just 21 months have accessed free TAFE. That's just in the first 21 months. And it is a partnership with the state and territories. It's not some doctrine from Canberra. This legislation makes free TAFE permanent and sets up the policy architecture where then we negotiate individual partnerships with each state and territory that adapt to the training system and adapt to what local industry and business and the economy need, as it should be.

I'd encourage the opposition to actually look at the evidence and support the bill, but I'm not holding my breath. Every now and again, Deputy Speaker Buchholz, you know those moments—you've been here a while—someone says something in the chamber or around the building that makes your head spin, and you go: 'What? Did she just say that?' That was the Deputy Leader of the Opposition last year. She dropped the mask on free TAFE. She said:

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

Well, she belled the cat on that one. It actually showed who they really are. When you take away all the nonsense language about aspiration they like to parade, they're there for those who already have the most wealth in the country, and they hate universal services. That's been a consistent threat for decades with the Liberal and National parties. They don't believe in aspiration and particularly supporting kids from lower socioeconomic circumstances, be it in the regions or the outer suburbs, to get a start in life, to get skilled, to get training and to get into well-paid jobs.

If you take that Liberal philosophy of 'If you don't pay for something, you don't value it,' it actually starts to make sense of their world view and other things. What if you take that to school education? 'If you don't pay for it, you don't value it.' I think most parents in Australia have a different view. What about firefighters? If you take that philosophy, if you want the firefighters to come and put out a fire at your house, why don't you pay for it? Otherwise, you don't value it. What about lifeguards at the beach, emergency departments in hospitals or GPs?

It was when the current Leader of the Opposition, Mr Dutton, was health minister—you might remember that he was voted the worst health minister in 40 years by the doctors—he implemented that philosophy, the one that they still espouse today, of 'If you don't pay for it, you don't value it.' He literally tried to destroy Medicare bulk-billing entirely by introducing a charge for every Australian to see the doctor. It wasn't just an accident policy. It wasn't a budget measure. It was what they fundamentally believe. The Liberal and National parties' history is to fight against universal services. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was the Labor Party that fought election after election to try and introduce Medicare. They don't like this, but this is the history of your party. You fought election after election, opposing Medicare, opposing—

Well, it's history. It's there. Malcolm Fraser abolished the first version of Medicare, and then you went to election after election with John Howard and Andrew Peacock and John Howard until you finally learnt the lesson that you can't win an election in this country without at least pretending to support Medicare. It's the same philosophy. That's what they believe: if you don't pay for it, you don't value it. We have a different view about universal services, and free TAFE is part of that. It's good for the economy and it's a cost-of-living measure.

The other thing they've said about free TAFE is that it's 'wasteful spending.' There's an important clue here. One of the great mysteries that erupted outside this chamber last week is when the Leader of the Opposition said, We're going to make giant cuts to public services, but we're not going to tell you what they are until after the election.' 'Giant cuts, but we're keeping them a secret.' It's gaslighting the Australian people. It's trolling the Australian people. Never before in the history of our Westminster democracy has the alternative government been so disrespectful of Australians that they're actually saying, 'We're not going to tell you what we're going to do after the election; we're just going to make cuts.' That is $315 billion of secret cuts, 'but we'll tell you after the election.'

Of course, that's only the tip of the iceberg because they've got to find $600 billion to pay for their risky nuclear reactor fantasy, and goodness knows how much the long lunches are going to cost—somewhere between $1.6 billion and $10 billion. It depends on how many people go out and take the full $20,000 tax deduction on the taxpayer so Australian taxpayers will be paying for their bosses' long lunches. You can apparently go to lunch by yourself at the golf club and have a $10,000 lunch, and that's okay, but they don't support free TAFE. So it's an important clue. Skilling Australians is wasteful spending, according to the Liberal Party, but you've got to cut free TAFE to pay for your boss's long lunch.

The government has a different vision. Skills and TAFE are critical for the economy, for Australia's future and, as I said, for cost-of-living help right now. Let's put a couple of numbers on the record. Thousands of dollars are being saved by Australians right now from free TAFE. A student in Victoria studying the diploma of nursing can save up to $17,700. That's an enormous amount. We need more nurses. I want to see Australian nurses trained, as I said, so we can rely less on overseas skilled migration. If we want to see Australian nurses trained, this is a cost of living measure that incentivises it. Early childhood certificate III in South Australia—we need skilled early childhood workers. You're a paediatrician, Deputy Speaker Freelander; one of the smartest investments we can make in our future economic wealth is investing in good early childhood training. That is $4,400 saved, and that incentivises students into that. A certificate of agriculture in Queensland can save $5,250. In the ACT, cybersecurity—we have a massive cybersecurity workforce shortage in this country—can save $3½ thousand.

But at least the opposition is consistent; I'll give them that. They have been consistent this term in opposing cost-of-living help, because it's not just free TAFE; they opposed the tax cuts, spoke against—we were going to have an election, apparently, last year. They called for an election so that people could have a say on Labor's tax cuts for every taxpayer. They opposed cheaper medicines. They opposed the $300 energy rebate for every household. They opposed the caps on wholesale gas prices. They opposed cheaper child care—more wasteful spending, according to the opposition. They oppose free TAFE. In fact, along with free TAFE, if they'd had their way over the last 2½ years, every Australian household would be $7,200 worse off. That's the sum total of them saying no, no, no, no, no to every cost-of-living measure that the government has put forward. But it's also consistent with their record in government in that wasted decade of decay, dysfunction and division. There were 22 energy policies. It ripped to bits three prime ministers. The Liberals presided in that decade over the second biggest skills shortage of any developed country in the OECD, and yet, despite all of the noise and the rhetoric, they still failed to land a national agreement with the states and territories to build Australia's skill base. There was an absolute crisis in skills, construction and trades—a 50 per cent shortage of workers—and they still failed to land an agreement with any of the states and territories. Worse than that: they actually cut $3 billion from the VET system and TAFE when they were in government.

But I dare the Leader of the Opposition, who must be skulking around the building, watching on TV, walking past or having staff keep up with what's going on, to come in here and say the word 'TAFE'. The Leader of the Opposition, the purported alternative prime minister of the country, has no policies. Well, he does have policies: they're for giant cuts, but he won't tell you where or what, so he's got a secret policy. He hasn't said the word 'TAFE'. He has not uttered the word TAFE in this chamber, in this parliament, for 21 years. He could come in here and say TAFE today. Nothing bad is going to happen. It's not scary. Millions of Australians go to TAFE. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition at least says TAFE. She calls it 'wasteful spending'. But, there you go, the Liberals don't respect our public TAFEs.

There is a kind of stereotype. I want to sort of puncture the illusion here. The stereotype is that the Liberals are all for private and that Labor are all for TAFE. That is not my view. I'll put it on the record. I think TAFE is the backbone of our training system. I'm not ashamed to say it. It does the heavy lifting. It invests in the heavy capital courses that the private sector will not invest in. It's a market failure if you think that the private sector is going to do all of that. That's just a fact. It's TAFE that invests in the regions, in particular. It's absolutely critical for access and equity, for outer metropolitan areas and for the regions. Private providers are not springing up overwhelmingly in those areas. TAFE is critical. It is the backbone of the training sector.

The private sector is also important, but it's part of the ecosystem that hangs around the backbone. The Liberals have a fundamentally different philosophy. They don't respect the TAFE system. They don't respect public TAFEs. They don't understand the value or importance of TAFEs in our local communities. They've shown time after time with flawed reforms that they will go for cheap and fast training over a well-supported and trusted VET sector with TAFE at the heart. The Minister for Industry and Science is sitting here and nodding furiously.

TAFE is the core of the training sector. That shouldn't be a controversial proposition. Saying that is not anti every private provider. There are some fantastic private providers that innovate. They can be more nimble in responding at times to industry or business training needs, but they don't invest in the regions, the outer suburbs and those critical, high-value courses for the economy that might have high capital costs. That's what TAFE does, and it's important.

So I say unashamedly that TAFEs are valued and trusted public institutions. They're trusted partners in our communities. They lead in innovating teaching and learning practices. They support students in succeeding and assist industries in developing skilled workforces. There's a TAFE in nearly every community across Australia, and every community across Australia deserves access to great vocational education and training.

I really encourage at least a few members of the opposition to use their brains, do the right thing and support the government's bill. I'm not holding my breath. They have this bizarre ideological opposition to universal services. They have this stated opposition to the concept of free TAFE. Well, we have a different view, and it's one part of the very clear choice that Australians will have at the election. They have opposed every single cost-of-living measure that the government has put forward—no, no, no, no. Well, this government believes in training. We believe in skilling Australians. It's good for the economy. It's good for people's wallets and household budgets. It's a choice. I back free TAFE.

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