Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week we acknowledged National TAFE Day. It was an opportunity for us to come together to celebrate vocational education and training and, in particular, TAFE and our teachers. On Friday, prior to coming to Canberra, I met with some of my local TAFE teachers to discuss not just this day and the importance of this day but also what's happening at Bendigo TAFE. I was shocked to learn that it has been over two years since our TAFE teachers in Victoria have received an adequate pay rise. They received a bit of a pay adjustment of about two per cent, but they've been bargaining for a long time. Yet, whilst we're in this cost-of-living crisis and whilst other EAs are receiving generous pay rises, our TAFE teachers are going without. It is disappointing because we need highly qualified, skilled, and well-paid TAFE teachers to ensure that our TAFE students have the support and teachers that they need. If we are going to address the skills crisis in this country, then we need well-paid, well-supported TAFE teachers. I want to thank my local TAFE teachers for their generosity and the spirit in which they shared their experiences.

Over the two-week break, I also had the opportunity to attend a forum that was held at La Trobe University in Bendigo. It was organised by the Australian Conservation Foundation, the local chapter in Bendigo and Castlemaine, BirdLife Australia and BirdLife Castlemaine, as well as a number of local environmental activist groups, including a bat alliance who are very concerned about what is happening to the flying foxes in our region. The event was well attended. It was packed out. They actually had to close registration. Everybody was there with a common interest: how do we better protect and preserve our natural environment? They cared about having stronger environmental laws, and there was recognition that the environmental laws in this country were broken for both business and the environment. There was a strong sense that we needed to be doing more, not just to protect and have the laws in place but to support Landcare groups with the restoration work they are doing on the ground. There was recognition that in areas like my area, we need local, state and federal governments to work better together, to work with local landholders as well as local environmental groups, to restore precious habitats. In my part of the world, we are rebuilding from 150 years of mining legacy, so there's the recognition as well that we need to work with our First Nations community, in particular Djarra, to restore country to what it was prior to the gold rush era. I would like to thank everybody for their contribution on this day.