Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is the Minister for Skills and Training. How is the Albanese Labor government supporting Australians to get the skills they need by removing financial barriers to training, and is there any opposition to this?

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank my friend the member for Wills. Unfortunately, the Minister for Education dealt with alliteration earlier for his question! Labor is providing cost-of-living support for more Australians to access high-quality affordable training to help them get good, secure, well-paying jobs. Our free TAFE initiative is delivering the training Australians want and the skills that we need for them to get ahead.

Last week I was in Western Australia, and, on average, students there are saving over $2,700 for a cert I qualification or better with fee-free TAFE this year. I was at Bentley TAFE with the member for Swan. There I met Kayla, a single mum, one of the thousands of Australians benefiting from free TAFE. For Kayla, not having to find the money to cover course fees means she's got the opportunity to upskill. She's been working in kitchens most of her life, but now, with her kids in school, she wants to get a qualification towards a career she can do for the next 20 years. This is a really big deal. Kayla told us what she was telling her kids: 'I'm going to school to get a better job so we can have a better life.'

I was asked whether there is any opposition to this. Shockingly, there has been opposition. The Liberals continue to call fee-free TAFE wasteful spending. Under them, Australians like Kayla, working hard to create a better life for themselves and their families, would be worse off. The last time they were in government, we saw the damage that their disregard for the VET system had done. They left Australia with the worst skill shortage in 50 years. They ripped $3 billion from TAFE and training after a decade of reckless neglect.

And we know that the Leader of the Opposition is a big risk because we know his record. He has opposed every single one of our cost-of-living measures, and, what's more, he has refused to back additional fee-free TAFE and VET places for construction—likewise, expanding access to new energy apprenticeships, expanding capacity for training facilities and the trainer workforce, support for women's careers in VET, and increased financial supports to priority apprentices and their employers.

We can't risk the Liberals limiting access to vocational education and cutting off pathways like free TAFE. Under them, Australians would be excluded from opportunities to upskill and make the contributions that we need, meaning the experience of older workers would be lost because they wouldn't have the chance to train for new careers, housing and energy projects wouldn't get the skilled workers they need, and business would be forced to look overseas for workers instead of employing Australians at home. The Leader of the Opposition's reckless arrogance has real costs for Australians. His agenda is wrong for Australia, and he's wrong for Australia too.