Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Nine out of 10 new jobs in the future will require post-secondary school education, four of those being vocational qualifications. In South Australia we will need to deliver almost 100,000 vocational education and training qualifications over the next five years in order to meet industry demands. It is no surprise that we were the very first state to partner with the Albanese Labor government to enter into a skills agreement, an agreement that delivered over 10,000 fee-free TAFE placements over the course of this year. Across the country that figure now totals around 215,000 fee-free TAFE enrolments. Whether someone is undertaking a course at TAFE to bolster their current skill set or to learn a new vocation, learning new skills and obtaining new qualifications changes lives for the better, helping workers to obtain well-paid, secure jobs.

That's why, on National TAFE Day, we celebrate those educators, teachers and trainers at TAFEs across Australia who do their best to transfer their passion for a skill or trade to their students—people like Susan Garwood, who teaches at Elizabeth TAFE in my electorate of Spence, who is in the building today. Today we show our gratitude to teachers and trainers like Susan, because, without them and the expertise they pass on to their students, TAFE is just a building; with them, it is a place of learning and a transformative educational institution. Thank you for all the work you do.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded.