Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

(1)   commends the Australian Government’s:

(a) commitment to meeting Australia’s future workforce needs;

(b) strong investment record in skills and training; and

(c) partnership with industry to meet Australia’s skills challenges;

(2)   notes that all Australians should have the opportunity to get the education and skills they need for the jobs on offer, and the importance:

(a) that the TAFE system plays in providing training opportunities; and

(b) of federal, state and local initiatives to provide jobseekers with customised employment and training to meet their individual needs and the demands of the labour market for a skilled workforce; and

(3)   calls on Governments at all levels to:

(a) provide funding for employment and skills services; and

(b) continue to invest in TAFE and skills training,

This federal Labor government has a strong record of building and managing the economy for working people, creating over 800,000 jobs on its watch, creating and fighting for those jobs, and spreading the benefits of the mining boom to families, businesses and individuals. We have one of the strongest economies in the western world.

Since December 2007 the economy has grown 10.3 per cent. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates; it has hovered at about five per cent for some considerable period of time. This federal Labor government has overhauled the job services network to focus squarely on getting people off welfare into work. We have provided more assistance to people with disabilities, Indigenous people and those with other barriers to employment.

Since coming to office we have introduced the first paid parental leave scheme, which is designed to redress Australia's low participation rate for women aged 25 to 44. We have a learn or earn guarantee for every Australian under 25 years of age—a training place, a place for education, if they are not ready for full employment.

We have provided support for families by providing over $4,000 per child to encourage teenagers 16 to 18 years old to remain in school or TAFE. We have uncapped the Disability Employment Services and changed income support arrangements for people with disabilities to provide incentives to engage in employment. We have trebled the tax-free threshold, creating incentives for low income earners to work.

We have introduced the Investing in Experience (Skills Recognition and Training) program to provide up to $4,000 to mature-age people undertaking skills assessment and training to support upskilling. In the last five years the census data shows a 39.5 per cent increase in students attending university or TAFE. An extra 996 students in my electorate alone are accessing higher education.

In Queensland, my home state, this federal Labor government has provided an extra $356.9 million for an extra 73,637 students to complete TAFE and other courses in the next five years and a MySkills website to give employers and students access to information. We are building Australia's future workforce with $3 billion in skills and training to address the skills shortage experienced by industry.

We understand that the benefits and dignity of work should be extended to more Australians. Many Australians need work, and we are providing it for them. Labor governments are committed to providing a high-skill workforce, high-wage jobs and a more productive and fairer economy. We believe that all eligible Australians should be able to access training and employment no matter where they are from or what is their background.

Too many Australians have been sidelined because they do not have the skills they need to join the workforce. We know there are challenges. The ABS data shows that around 4.1 million Australians miss out on vital skills and training that could earn them up to $10,000 more a year in today's labour market. That is why we have taken the action I have outlined, and that is why we are taking additional action. Also, we committed to and have abolished up-front fees for 60,000 students a year in vocational education and training, providing interest free deferred loans for all students studying publicly-subsidised diplomas and advanced diplomas. We put $1.75 billion on the table to work with states and territories to deliver these reforms. This is a proud Labor record. It is fair for all Australians.

What do the Liberals do? What do their state governments in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria do? It is in their DNA—they cut TAFE funding, slash jobs and increase student fees. In my home state, Queenslanders feel thoroughly and utterly betrayed by their destructive government. Hillbilly authoritarianism is the order of the day in Queensland now, with savage cuts to services, jobs and funding. It is not just the 14,000 public servants whose jobs have been slashed. There are all the other people who are receiving funding for programs through the Department of Communities, employed in local councils, community groups and not-for-profit organisations—for example, IRASI, the tenancy advocacy service in Ipswich in my electorate. The jobs of great people like Amy Stockwell, who is the Community Development Coordinator in the Somerset Regional Council, have been slashed. Amy was a pillar during the flood last year. Her job has been slashed because the Department of Communities' funds have been cut.

We have seen the Queensland government's savage job cuts. In health, 4,140 jobs are gone, after the promise that only 2,700 jobs would go. Before the election, Campbell Newman said public servants had 'nothing to fear' from him. This is a cruel, mean, vindictive government who is hell-bent not on upskilling and training people but on downsizing the public sector and downsizing employment. It is no surprise the unemployment rate in Queensland is rising faster than that of anywhere else. The people in my community, in the Ipswich and Somerset region in the western corridor, feel betrayed.

And this is just the curtain raiser by those opposite, with the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Treasurer committed to filling a $70 billion black hole. Where would their cuts be? We know they intend to do a commission of audit, a la Peter Costello's disgraceful and disgusting effort in Queensland in relation to these issues, and there is further privatisation on the table. Unnecessary slashing and burning is what an Abbott led Liberal government would do to skills, training and jobs across Australia. Campbell Newman described the budget in Queensland as an 'exciting budget'. Tim Nicholls described it as a 'great budget'. He said, 'We are all in this together.' Tell that to the public servants and the community groups. Tell that to those people who rely on state government funding for skills and training.

This is happening not just in Queensland but in New South Wales and Victoria. In New South Wales, the O'Farrell Liberal government slashed 1,800 jobs, gouging workers and students with an almost 10 per cent rise in TAFE fees and a whopping $1.7 billion in cuts. They are freezing funds to Catholic and independent schools. It is in the fibre, the blood and the bones of these Tories opposite. In Victoria, we see $300 million taken out of TAFE, and we will see it in Queensland.

The Queensland Skills and Training Workforce's interim report to the state government recommends that the number of TAFE campuses across Queensland be cut from 82 to 44. It recommends the number of TAFE campuses in the western corridor in Brisbane be cut from 16 to 11. And Bremer TAFE in my electorate is in the gun. This is what they would do. They would cut services, take away TAFE jobs and slash services. We know how important TAFE is for those who have not finished high school and do not have a senior certificate, for migrants and for other people who need a helping hand in terms of the job market—the poor, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged. The cuts would seriously undermine national training efforts and see hundreds of Queensland teachers lose their jobs. The federal Labor government is putting $1.5 billion into the Queensland training system over the next five years. We have signed an agreement for an additional $357 million to lift the quality and the number of people completing qualifications.

But what do those opposite say? We have not heard a peep, a whisper or a word, not a hint, not a nod or a wink from any of the people opposite who live in cockies corner. We have not had a word from any LNP members in Queensland about what they are doing to our home state. When rural fire services are slashed, when tenancy services are gone, when rail trails—which provide jobs and apprenticeships and contribute to tourism—are gone, there is nothing from those opposite. They go missing in action entirely. There is not a word when it comes to slashing funding for schools and for roads. So many people in the TAFE system work on roads in apprenticeships and get their skills working on roads like the Ipswich Motorway. Oh, I forgot—they opposed all the road funding and construction in Queensland. They also opposed the nation building plan, the flood recovery plan and of course the MRRT funding that we are providing in regional development.

That is the record of those opposite when it comes to investigation in skills, training and jobs. There is a vast difference between those on this side and those on the other side. Those on the other side have an absolute commitment to slashing and burning. That is what they will do to jobs and training in Queensland, New South Wales and across the country if they ever get on this side of the Treasury benches.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Childhood Learning) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am happy to speak on the member for Blair's private members' motion regarding training and workforce development. I thought we might have a contribution that added to the battle of ideas, to the competing philosophies between this side of the House and that side of the House, or something that enabled those listening on the broadcast to think and be inspired and consider aspects of training skills, one of the most exciting parts of the portfolio that I represent in opposition, but all we heard was a speech absolutely dripping with negativity and nastiness. And I am sorry about that.

Demand from China has slowed. We are going to have to recognise this as an indicator that we cannot afford to solely rely on the mining boom for our nation's future prosperity. Not only do we need to look ahead in terms of new industries and services for our economic advancement, but we have to look to our training. We need a nation of graduates who have transferable skills that make them eminently employable in a host of industries, not just confined to one industry with a rigid skills set. We require a vocational education sector that is truly world class, one that offers students flexibility to study whilst ensuring that employers are getting access to graduates with the skills they need to grow and prosper.

TAFE, which occupies a certain component of this motion, does have a critical role to play in providing this vocational training. As a rural and regional member I know only too well that were it not for TAFE many young country students would not be able to study or would be forced to move to bigger centres. We do have some fabulous TAFEs in this country. I was delighted to address the TAFE Directors Australia conference in Perth recently. The drive and willingness of people like Martin Riordan to see TAFE progress and explore new opportunities is great to see. As a publicly funded body it is important that TAFE funding is well directed. Courses that meet Australia's skills in demand should be front and centre for taxpayer funding. We need to correctly identify where funding priorities lie, and the need for this is even more critical when there are fewer dollars to allocate.

Sourcing new markets is of key importance to our TAFEs and private colleges. There is a wealth of opportunity right on our doorstep in Asia and we must ensure that government policies do not hinder this expansion. Yet, we have seen education related travel drop from our third highest export to fourth as new students struggle with the new visa requirements imposed by this government, or have lingering concerns about dodgy providers. These are both areas where the government must be held to account. Last week I wrote to the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research to request that he make sure that the national review of VET regulation give appropriate consideration to the issue of poor or unscrupulous providers. Not only does the continued existence of these providers cause huge harm to our reputation overseas, but it permits Australian students to gain qualifications that are not really worth the paper they are printed on.

Contestable funding offers some real opportunities for our TAFEs. For some they may need to be more business savvy, but this is in the best interests of everyone. It provides a real chance to raise the standards and ensure that taxpayer dollars are focused on those areas that will provide the greatest benefit to the community as a whole. I would also like to see industry linkages between TAFE and the wider community better integrated. In some TAFEs and some communities it is done well but in some it just is not.

The Australian Technical Colleges, a coalition policy, saw a real linkage between industry and training. Regrettably, with Labor abolishing these centres, we have actually lost this key focus. These were centres of excellence that ensured we were training our young people to be first-class employees with a real understanding of what business needed from them. Australian Technical Colleges were a place where students could feel proud to be students, knowing that they were on their way to a bright and prosperous future, and they were absolutely linked in with their local industries and linked in with their next future job.

Instead we saw the government roll out Trade Training Centres, a mere shadow of our former Australian Technical Colleges. Initially they promised one for every school—as many ribbon-cutting ceremonies as a marginal seat MP could dream of—however, in the budget before last, the funding was put on hold. In the most recent budget they put Trade Training Cadetships on hold as a further desperate attempt to realise a budget surplus next financial year.

The disaster that has been this government's Trade Training Centres program really does indicate a fundamental misunderstanding of where the training dollar should go, and it is not in bricks and mortar. We have seen half-baked facilities pop up all around the country. There are some that are good, there are some that are fit for purpose and there are some that are fulfilling a need in their local communities. I am not going to pretend that that is not the case. It is such an extravagant over allocation of capital dollars, of bricks and mortar, not even completing in many cases the fit-out that is required, not even understanding the type of trade that needs to be trained for in a particular location but just saying, 'Here we are, one size fits all. One for every school, for almost every trade.' It has resulted in, as I said, an over allocation of money in bricks and mortar. There is not enough funding for the ongoing actual training effort. If you talk to trainees or apprentices, as I did recently when a group came to the house, of course they want the facilities and they want the best equipment, but what stands out for them is the quality of the training. What should stand out for all of us as members in this place in terms of the approach we bring to vocational education and training is quality. Quality matters most. The government has wasted so much money with pink batts, Trade Training Centres and tuckshops in some of those centres with no space for pie warmers. It is just slapdash—build it and hope it works out.

The coalition understands that every dollar we spend on training must be a dollar well spent. There is no point in training someone if the qualification they receive will not assist them into a job. That is why the coalition has committed to funding four trial sites to train 1,000 Indigenous people in two years. Each person who receives training will be guaranteed a job.

I talked about quality being high and assured and I would envisage that any vocational education system must have that front and centre. We have a body that has not been committed to by every state in terms of regulating quality—ASQA, the Australian Skills Quality Authority, Victoria and WA have not signed up. I have expressed reservations about that body in the past. It does need to get on the case when it comes to dodgy providers and RTOs that are letting us all down. It is simply under-resourced to do that. It has six investigators across the whole country. That is ridiculous. The small examples of providers that do the wrong thing are unfortunately writ large on the national scale and do our national reputation no good at all.

Those opposite talk about the vocational education and training argument in terms of public versus private, which is a huge fundamental mistake to make. In the coalition we support strong public TAFE. We know the role it plays, as I said, especially in regional areas. But we also recognise that an open entitlement system as has been driven by the Prime Minister—not very well, but driven nevertheless in every state and territory—would mean that private operators had an equal place to play on the stage. It is very important that we do not underestimate the role that they can play and that we look at the examples that they can provide. We have leading people in TAFE in this country who are looking to the future, who are excited about those opportunities. Yes, we are in a budgetary environment that is tightening fiscally. That is something we all have to face. That is something we all have to come to terms with. When I look at the skills effort that is duplicated between state governments and the federal government, it makes me cranky. Sometimes I hear of examples where a particular training program is funded by the federal government and the state government as well, and the two competing bureaucrats bump into each other in some location and say, 'We did not know you were funding this.' And, 'Oh, I hear you are as well.' That is absolutely crazy that the coordination between state and territory skills funding is simply not happening on the ground, not happening at all.

I would like to conclude with apprenticeships because they are so important and everyone in this House knows that. People talk about the completion rates for apprenticeships being poor and many reasons are flagged, including lack of income for the apprentices. But I think we overlook the real problem, which is the commencements. I would like to see a system that focuses much more commencements—that puts the right apprentice in the right job, at the right time of their life and doing the trade that is right for them. That is not happening now with this disconnect between federal and state funding not working out on the ground in a workplace or in an apprenticeship program. More has to be done to make that work better in the interests of apprentices and in the interests of future employers.

Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to rise today to speak on the member for Blair's motion before this House. I particularly want to focus on the important role that TAFEs play in training our young people and in providing critical skills necessary for industry growth for our region. TAFEs provide people with job-ready skills, which is of course what industry wants.

Down my way we have a huge appetite for well trained people across a broad spectrum of skill sets. We have a very strong tourism sector in my area requiring hospitality skills to support it, particularly in areas like the Great Ocean Road, the Bellarine Peninsula and the fabulous Otway Ranges area. Given that though, it is completely unbelievable that the state governments are attacking TAFE the way they are. The Bailleau government is imposing on the Gordon TAFE—a very proud Geelong institution and one that has served our region for more than 125 years—a 25 per cent funding cut. He is also imposing across the whole TAFE sector across the state of Victoria a $300-million cut to our TAFE institutions. This massive attack on our TAFE colleges will see huge pressure being put on our institutions to simply survive.

One of the most disappointing aspects of the TAFE cuts was revealed on Friday last week in a leaked state government cabinet-in-confidence document which highlighted that the Gordon TAFE would have to, by 2014, cease delivering VET training in our schools. VET training is an important alternative pathway for young people wanting to pursue a career that does not require going to university. Further to that, that leaked cabinet document indicated that the Gordon TAFE would have to close 43 courses providing skills and training to young people.

Those that might be listening to this broadcast would very much be aware that my seat within the Geelong region has a very proud and very strong manufacturing sector. Quite unbelievably, the Gordon TAFE will be forced to close its certificate IV in competitive manufacturing. This is a course designed to provide skills that are critical to our Geelong car industry, a very important and strong employer in our region. This particular course is designed to up-skill our manufacturing workers within our region providing new and expansive skills to workers to enable them to have a strong presence in their workplaces, particularly around driving productivity and the like. Yet the Bailleau government's attack on this course will create difficulties for our manufacturing sector.

Further to that, our region, as I indicated earlier, also has a very strong tourism sector. It employs many young people and is a new and emerging industry in our region yet this leaked cabinet document reveals that the Gordon— (Time expired)

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, I would like to declare an interest in this motion on our TAFE system. My sister-in-law was a TAFE teacher and I would certainly like to see governments at all levels continue to invest in TAFE and skills training. Paragraph 3 of this motion calls on the government at all levels to provide funding and to continue to invest in TAFE. But you cannot walk into this chamber and call on governments to provide funding, as this motion does, unless you are prepared to say where the money is coming from. Already, we have seen this Labor government make unfunded promises of $120 billion—and these are getting bigger by the day. We have had promises of additional billions for disability, defence, education and dental services—all very worthy causes. But this government does not have a clue how it is going to pay for these or where the money is coming from. To make these massive unfunded spending commitments is simply to hoodwink the public. So the member who moved this motion calling for extra funding should start coming clean with the Australian public. Does he support higher taxes? Does he support more government borrowing? Or are the claims that Labor will provide billions for everything nothing more than a cruel hoax, a repeat of the infamous carbon tax promise?

Our TAFE system plays a crucial role in providing high-quality education, vocational education and training, to provide the skills that Australians need to have the opportunity in our ever-changing economy. This reminds me of a recent conversation I had with the father of two young sons who shared with me his aspirations for his two boys. He did not particularly wish them to have a university degree, but he hoped they would pick up an interest in learning a trade and going to work for themselves—as plumbers, carpenters or other tradesmen. He made the correct point that a trade career is often better paid, offers significantly more work flexibility and a more fulfilling, enjoyable life than sometimes a university degree would.

But if governments are going to continue to subsidise training through TAFEs around the nation, it can only be done if it is funded on a sustainable basis. And a sustainable basis simply means that governments cannot spend money that they do not have. I know this may be a very novel concept for those on the other side of the House but, if we want to have sustainable funding for our education system, governments cannot spend money they do not have.

The member for Blair, in his contribution, talked about many of Labor's spending programs, which have run up a combined deficit of $174 billion. He also talked about Queensland. I understand the position in Queensland. It is worth having a look at the interim report of the independent Queensland Commission of Audit into Queensland's financial position. I think the member for Blair would do well to read this. It said:

In recent years, the Government of Queensland embarked on an unsustainable level of spending which has jeopardised the financial position of the State.

The deterioration in Queensland's financial position results from a lack of fiscal discipline—

exactly what we see here in this chamber with Labor as well. The report concluded, under paragraph 1.4, entitled 'The Consequences of Ill-Discipline':

Queensland's financial position is unsustainable. The State is currently locked into a debilitating cycle of over expenditure, ever-increasing levels of debt, and crippling increases in debt servicing costs. A major task of fiscal repair is imperative to prevent further damage to the future prosperity of the State.

Where was the member for Blair when all this mess was being created? I find it amazing that those who came in here and complained the loudest, against those who have the unenviable job of cleaning up the mess that Labor state governments have made, were mysteriously mute and failed to even raise a whimper when this mess was being created in the first place.

Our TAFEs provide a very important part of our education system. We must fund them, but we can only fund them on a sustainable basis with money the government has. (Time expired)

Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I start by thanking the member for Blair for bringing this matter before the House. It is, as the member for Hughes has rightly identified, an important debate. It is a debate that goes to the heart of our economic priorities and to the future of our workforce, because nothing could be more important than ensuring that we have skilled, trained workers to meet the needs of the future—and we know that those needs are going to be large indeed. In the future, less than seven per cent of the jobs will be able to be described as unskilled. That means the balance, the 93 per cent, have to be made up of graduates of either the universities, the TAFEs or other vocational education and training colleges in this country. We know that we will need around 1.7 million more workers with a certificate III or higher qualification between now and 2015, so it is a critical area of economic policy.

I have to say that I was absolutely gobsmacked as I sat here and listened to the member for Hughes talk about economic management and economic policy. I do not want to verbal him, but I am quite certain that I heard the member for Hughes say that we cannot afford to be funding our TAFEs adequately. This is coming from a party that says we can afford to give a tax cut to the mining executives of this country, we can afford to give superannuation tax giveaways to some of the wealthiest people in this country, but we cannot afford to fund our schools, our hospitals and our TAFE system. You really have to ask yourself where are the economic priorities of those who sit opposite, and who look longingly across the chamber and want to sit on the Treasury benches of this parliament, when they say it is more important to give a tax cut to the mining companies of this country than it is to educate our kids. You have to ask yourself where their economic priorities lie. We are doing something about the economic priorities.

I am pleased to see the member for Cunningham, the parliamentary secretary, in the chamber, because I know that she, like my father was, is a former TAFE teacher and gave many years of her life providing vocational education and training to people from the Illawarra region, where we have relied for decades on the services of TAFEs to provide not only skilled workers for the businesses of the region but a chance in life for those who may not otherwise have had one.

We are making great headway. In 2011 there were over 200,000 additional students enrolled in vocational education and training courses in this country. There are also record numbers of Australians entering apprenticeships. Last year we topped the scale, with almost half a million Australians starting an apprenticeship. That is a great thing for those kids. But as anyone knows who has ever tried to get an electrician, a plumber or a carpenter out to their house for a repair or out to their business, we have a skills shortage in this country, and it is fast becoming an economic bottleneck.

We could follow the economic precepts of those on the other side of the chamber, represented by the member for Hughes in this debate, and say: 'We can't afford to train our kids. We can't afford to train the next generation of apprentices in this country. We can't afford to give those kids a second chance.' As the member for Cunningham knows—she has taught in TAFE for many years—it is not only a matter of providing kids with traineeships and apprenticeships. There are many people for whom attending TAFE is a second chance at getting a high school certificate—a second chance at ensuring that they do not fall through the cracks. For whatever reason, they may have dropped out of high school, and attending a TAFE college is their second chance to complete their high school education.

These are the sorts of people who are at threat through the atrocious cuts that were announced last week. I could not believe it when I saw that Barry O'Farrell, the Premier of New South Wales, was putting in place cuts to the education budget that would lead to the axing of over 800 TAFE jobs and an increase in TAFE student fees by around 9.5 per cent. I should have believed it, because the Liberals have form on this. The egregious attacks on the TAFE system in Victoria by Premier Baillieu have been followed by those of his mate in Queensland. You cannot trust the Liberals when it comes to education. (Time expired)

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with pleasure that I join this debate on late notice and take up on the contributions from members on this side of the House in relation to the motion put forward by the member for Blair. And I take up the comments that the member who preceded me, the member for Throsby, just raised in relation to whether members on this side of the House actually care about TAFE funding. I can assure the member that the members on this side of the House are equally as passionate about the skills shortage facing the Australian nation and facing each of our states and are as passionate about TAFEs as are the members on the other side. However, what the member failed to discuss at any stage during his contribution was the simple fact that you have to be able to pay for it, which the member for Hughes raised in his contribution.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A novel concept!

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a novel concept for Labor governments. You can keep on spending—you can spend and you can spend and you can spend—but one day the Australian people have to pay for it. If the member for Throsby wants to talk about political parties having form on this, then let us talk about the form of the state Labor governments, of the former federal governments and of the current federal Labor government in relation to being able to manage a balanced budget. The simple reason the Victorian government has had to make some very difficult decisions in relation to TAFEs is that it is cleaning up the mess left behind by the Bracks and Brumby governments. The prime reason the Newman LNP government in Queensland is making some tough budgetary decisions right now is that they are cleaning up Anna's mess—an $80 billion mess. It is hard to believe that a state government could achieve an $80 billion mess like that, but Anna Bligh was up to it, ably assisted by Peter Beattie.

And then we look at the New South Wales situation. If you listened to those opposite you would think that members of the Liberal Party and the National Party just want to cause grief for people when it comes to making tough budgetary decisions. The simple fact of the matter, once again, is that the O'Farrell government has had to clean up after—how many years was it? How many years of torture in New South Wales was it?

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Too many!

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member shakes his head. There were years and years of poor budget performance in New South Wales, and now the O'Farrell government is once again cleaning up the mess. And it is a pattern that the Australian people know so well. Go into any public bar in regional Australia, perhaps even suburban Australia, and ask people about the Australian Labor Party. Ask, 'Can the Australian Labor Party manage money?' and you will not find a single person in that bar who believes that the Australian Labor Party is good with taxpayers' money. It is accepted wisdom throughout Australia that Labor cannot manage money. Every time Labor gets to the Treasury benches they prove themselves incapable of managing balanced budgets.

So we have this motion here from the member for Blair, talking about providing funding for employment and skills services and continuing to invest in TAFEs as if the Labor Party is the only party that cares about investing in skills. Well, here is a news flash for the member for Blair: members on this side are equally as passionate about this issue, but we just have this feeling that you have to be able to pay for it; one day you have to pay the bills. Unfortunately for those in the Labor Party, they never have to pay the bills; they just leave it for the Liberals and Nationals to come into government and clean up the mess. In the last month, as members of the Labor Party walked into this place, you could have sworn they were running for state parliament. You could have sworn that the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and a whole assortment of the gaggling crowd opposite are running for state parliamentary seats, because they do not want to talk about the federal parliament anymore; all they want to talk about is what New South Wales is doing, what Queensland is doing, what Victoria is doing. You would have thought that at least one member opposite actually cared about the state of the Australian budget and what is actually happening in this parliament. Then again, if I were presiding over another budgetary mess, with a $120 billion budget black hole, the last thing I would want to talk about would be the federal parliament. So we have Anna's mess, we have Brumby's and Bracks's mess, we have the mess of whoever was leading New South Wales for about 15 years—all their mess—and now we have Kevin's and Julia's mess to clean up.

The previous speaker was right: there are some people in this place who have form on this, and it is the Labor Party. We cannot afford Labor governments at state level, and we certainly cannot afford Labor governments at federal level.

Debate adjourned and made an order of the day for the next sitting.