Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Free TAFE Bill 2024, and I will start by outlining the background to this bill. I note that in the second reading speech for the bill the Minister for Skills and Training outlined the importance of a strong vocational education and training system to enable inclusion and economic equality and to save Australia's future. He stated that strong TAFEs are essential to a strong vocational and training sector. I completely agree—particularly now, when we look at the considerable shortage of skills that we have in this country—that a strong vocational education and training system is absolutely crucial. It's crucial to the further building of our country. It's crucial for the construction of our houses. It is crucial to supporting our manufacturing sector. It's crucial to supporting our retail sector and, very significantly, our beverages and hospitality sector.

However, the issue that I and others on our side have with the whole premise of this legislation is that it is dealing only with TAFEs. TAFEs are not the only VET providers in our country, and indeed they shouldn't be. I think what the government could have done on this was to address some of the other underlying issues that we have with the skills shortage in our country, and this legislation, unfortunately, does not do that. The minister's speech talks about free TAFE providing a prosperous and equitable Australia, removing barriers to education and training, and delivering a coordinated national response to workforce shortages in industries and occupations of local and national priority. It can do that, but why then is the same assistance not being offered to the private VET organisations? Many of those organisations provide very important, successful and competent training. They provide additional support particularly for our younger apprentices. That's the first issue that I have with this legislation. Again, I fail to understand why this government has an obsession, I suppose it is, with TAFE and not with general VET training overall.

This bill commits the Commonwealth to make a grant of financial assistance to states and territories for the delivery of free TAFE places, with states and territories required to enter into a free TAFE agreement with the Commonwealth which sets out the terms and conditions of financial assistance. I should say that I have no doubt that the intention behind this legislation is to address some of the skills and workforce shortages that we have in this country, but it has not been dealt with in the way that it could have been. It could have been so much better.

I started by referring to some of the critical shortages in, for example, our construction industry. All of us in this place—and everybody in this country—knows that we have a chronic shortage of housing, which has led to a massive housing affordability crisis. Who is going to build those houses? TAFE does provide training opportunities for our builders, for our roofers, for our tilers and for our electricians, but TAFE is not the only place where we can skill up the workforce that is needed in our construction sector. I particularly refer to the work that is done by the National Electrical and Communications Association, known as NECA, because, before I gave this speech, I spoke to the CEO of NECA to find out how exactly they train the electricians of the future.

In my home state of New South Wales, they have around 500 to 600 apprentices at their registered training organisation campus in Chullora, and it's a campus that teaches the apprentices. It's a not-for-profit led charity, and it has received not one cent from the Albanese Labor government's supposed 100,000 free TAFE spaces, so this legislation will not help that organisation. This organisation said that, comparing its results against the results of TAFE, it has a roughly 90 per cent completion rate from when apprentices first sign up to the completion of their trades, whereas in TAFE it's around a 50 per cent completion rate. When I asked NECA what the reason for that was, their response was that they provide some mentoring and also some pastoral care to their apprentices as they are going through. They also ensure that their apprentices are matched correctly with prospective employers because, as we know, sometimes a relationship between an employee and an employer is just not a good fit. In those circumstances, they will then work with the apprentice to ensure that they are moved to an employer that may be a better fit for that particular electrical apprentice.

We've got a situation where, already, we can see that the private organisations can provide a lot of assistance and extra benefits that are not necessarily provided through TAFE, and it is the same when we consider the plumbing sector, particularly Master Plumbers. I have similarly spoken to the CEO there. Master Plumbers has a similar enterprise to NECA. I'm particularly drawn to Master Plumbers because, as of next year, my elder son James will be a plumber's apprentice. It was a similar conversation that I had. I asked, 'What are your completion rates?' They said, 'They're around 80 per cent.' Again, compared to TAFE, around 50 per cent—and the same reasons were put forward. There is that level of pastoral care. There is a bit more assistance and oversight provided to the apprentices than they receive in TAFE. That is why I do question why this legislation is only directed at TAFE and why the Albanese Labor government does not seem to be able to think outside of the square to consider private organisations in the skills and training sector.

This is a view that is backed up by business. It's backed up by industry. Just last week, I was over at the Ingleburn Chamber of Commerce, which is down in south-west Sydney. This is the new part of the electorate of Hughes, and I'm very glad that I'll have the opportunity to represent and serve the people of Ingleburn and the businesses of Ingleburn in this parliament. I hope that they give me the opportunity to serve and represent them after the next election. I raised this issue about this legislation and about the free TAFE, and, in the feedback that came back from those in industry down in Ingleburn, they said we need to look at other options. There were some private VET organisations there that said, 'We provide these services; we can often get the apprentices through in a shorter timeframe.' They certainly ensure that the apprentices are with employers where it is a good match and that the apprentices are not in any way suffering from some of the unfortunate things that have happened to apprentices in the past. They ensure that they are paid correctly. They ensure that their hours are correct, and mostly they really assist them to get through their course.

The chamber of commerce people who were present that day also indicated to me that what they also need out there are industry based apprentices. This is what we need to do in this place. This is what government needs to be doing. This is why the coalition has put this out as one of the election promises that we'll be taking to the next election. We need to be going out to industry and saying, 'What is it that you need?' I have a lot of manufacturers in my electorate in Moorebank and also down in and around Ingleburn and Macquarie Fields, for example. When I have gone to manufacturing forums where the sector comes together, I have said, 'What do you need?' I have been through a lot of the manufacturing places down there, such as Cullen Steel and Darrell Lea chocolates. They are very different. The Darrell Lea chocolates was a good experience, I must say. There was a big weighing machine there, and I said, 'Please don't tell me that you weigh us on the way in and then weigh us on the way out, because that would mean that I do not want to come in!' But what the manufacturing industry are saying is, 'We can't get, today, the fitters, the turners, the boilermakers and the machinists to run our factories.' We are doing a lot more now with robotics and with AI, but, at the end of the day, there is still a big need for a lot of trades in these factories at these sites that are simply not coming through the school system.

With that, there are a couple of things we need to be going into schools saying. There are plenty of students in probably year 10 or year 11 for whom finishing school and going for an academic sort of learning at a university is simply not the right course. They need to be shown, I suppose, other pathways, and I don't think that in recent years we have done this particularly well.

I have 18-year-old boys, and I know that it is not really encouraged at their schools. I think we need to, in the schools, be doing a lot more of the school based apprenticeships. We need to be talking to career advisers and saying to them, 'This needs to be a pathway that you can show the students.' We don't need to push all our students into university, and we don't need to push them all into TAFE; we need to show them that there are a whole lot of different opportunities, once they're finishing school, for further education and for further skills development.

Those are, broadly, some of the issues that I see with this legislation as it relates particularly to my electorate. I know the Deputy Leader of the Opposition has spoken on this legislation a number of times, and she has set out the coalition's position in relation to it. She has stipulated that industry based apprentices will definitely be part of the coalition's policy going forward to the next election.

I support further education and higher education. I support federal money being put into that. But it shouldn't just be limited to the TAFE sector.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our government is accused of having an obsession with TAFE—and I think that's okay; I don't think we regard that as an insult. We are passionate about TAFE. We are passionate about vocational education and training. We are passionate about building the skills for the future in this country and repairing the many years of neglect we saw from the previous government. Our government has consulted with industry—we've consulted from the beginning of our term—in a range of different fora, including the Jobs and Skills Summit. We're investing in manufacturing and industry in this country once again because we can see that a future made in Australia offers great opportunities for people right across this country.

In my own electorate of Chisholm I was delighted that the Prime Minister's first visit to Melbourne after the federal election in 2022 included a visit to Holmesglen TAFE in my community, to the Drummond Street campus. We had a excellent morning visiting apprentices, meeting with staff and learning about the tunnelling centre and the electrical training centre that was established there. I've also been able to go to another Holmesglen TAFE campus recently with Andrew Giles, the new minister. It was a really important visit to hear firsthand from people about what free TAFE meant to them. We are absolutely committed to investing in the skills Australia needs to drive economic growth. This is part of our ambition to ensure that no-one is left behind and no-one is held back as the economy transitions.

The Free TAFE Bill 2024 commits the Commonwealth to ongoing support of states and territories for free TAFE. We know so far that fee-free TAFE has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians, providing cost-of-living relief and providing an important pathway to well-paid and secure employment. In the first 18 months of fee-free TAFE there have been 508,000 enrolments; this is enormous. Ongoing free TAFE will offer greater certainty to students, greater certainty to employers and greater certainty to industry as well as to the states and territories.

The bill establishes ongoing cost-of-living relief by removing the financial barriers that exist, for people to be able to pursue an education and to pursue their training. This is particularly important for groups that typically experience economic disadvantage and may not be able to embrace the opportunities offered by vocational education and training.

This bill also ensures that free TAFE continues to deliver a coordinated response to workforce shortages in industries of local and national priority, helping to build the pipeline of skilled workers that Australia needs now and into the future. I think something really important that our government has done—and it should be common sense, but it hasn't always been common sense—is that we have connected skills with industry. We look forward at what the areas of demand in the economy will be and make sure that we have people being trained in those areas. As I said, this should be common sense but it hasn't always been the case. I think it is really important to highlight the work our government has been doing in this space.

The legislation here does not lock states into a fixed mode of delivering free TAFE, but it builds on the shared stewardship that we've developed for the national VET system. While this bill sets out broad parameters, specific details will continue to be agreed to through negotiations between the Commonwealth and the states.

We know that we have a responsibility as a government to help people here and now, but we also have a duty to the next generation to build an economy for all Australians that liberates their talents, rewards their efforts and opens the doors of opportunity. This starts with education for all. In my very first speech, I spoke about the importance of education. It is something I hold very dear—that every Australian, no matter their background or financial situation, should have equal access to education. No-one should be held back and no-one should be left behind.

We believe, on this side of the House, in equal opportunity, and by making TAFE free we're removing financial barriers to access and ensuring that everybody has the chance to pursue a career they love and to achieve their full potential. We believe in investing in people and making sure that everybody has the skills and capacity to contribute to a thriving economy. Our whole nation benefits; we know this. Our communities benefit when we make it easier for people to access education. Free TAFE is an investment in the future of our society. A fairer society benefits everyone. The long-term benefits of a more skilled and more productive workforce will absolutely create economic growth that benefits everyone in our communities—that benefits all Australians. We know that, if we don't act, the costs will be higher down the track. Failing to invest in skilling up people will leave businesses stranded and leave Australians locked out of reaching their potential.

A better educated workforce drives innovation. It drives productivity and long-term economic growth. TAFE opens doors for people right across Australia who are looking to gain well-paid and secure work. We're delivering the training Australians want and the skills they need to get ahead. This is meaningful cost-of-living support. It's helping people access high-quality, affordable training and get jobs that will be well paid, too. We're delivering the skills and training needed to grow the economy, to build the homes we need and to create the future made in Australia that we should be ambitious for, and we're ensuring all Australians can get quality care when they need it. We know free TAFE trains so many people that work in the care and service industries.

With high-quality skills and training we're building a better Australia. Nine in 10 new jobs over the next 10 years will need post-school study, and half of those jobs will need vocational education and training. Having a reliable VET sector is critical for the economy. Making sure it is an accessible sector means people can help create and share in our national prosperity. I think, from comments made by my colleagues, it's pretty clear that you cannot have a strong VET sector without strong public TAFE at its heart. TAFEs are valued and trusted public institutions and have a very long history in this country of delivering training in the public interest and working to meet Australia's social and economic goals in the here and now and, through working with government, looking at the long-term needs of the nation.

TAFEs are trusted partners in their communities, driving quality improvements across the VET sector, leading innovation in teaching and learning practice, supporting students to succeed and assisting industries to develop skilled workforces.

I mentioned earlier the visits that I have been privileged enough to participate in with the Prime Minister and with the minister at various moments in my electorate. The passion that the teaching staff have for the work they do and the dedication they have are to be commended. I know that it is something that the students absolutely value, and it's one of the reasons that they have made the decision to enrol in TAFE.

There is a TAFE in nearly every community across Australia, and every community in the country deserves access to great vocational education and training. I know some people, like those opposite, unfortunately consider free TAFE wasteful spending. On this side of the House, we reject that principle absolutely. We see free TAFE as an investment in the nation's future, in the future of our communities and in the future of individuals—to be able to build a good and prosperous life for themselves and their families.

We are unapologetic about our support for TAFE. Supporting TAFE is in the DNA of the Labor Party. Now that we're in government, we're reversing the damage of a decade of neglect, and we're rebuilding TAFEs for communities across Australia. We made the landmark $30 billion, five-year National Skills Agreement with the states and territories, lifting investment in skills across Australia, alongside the investment that we have made in fee-free TAFE.

We're making sure that there is more integrity in the system by going after bad providers so that quality providers can do their work properly and there is trust in the system. Our government has tightened up regulations, we've set up a tip-off line and we've increased funding to the independent regulator. This is directly leading to the exposure and deregistration of fraudulent providers. I hope we can all agree in this place that having an education system with integrity is vitally important for our nation. We know that it takes only a few bad apples to bring an entire sector into disrepute. But it also takes a genuine national partnership and vision to support our great TAFEs, and through this bill we are making sure that we have the right frameworks in place to be able to support TAFEs and support people's ambitions now and into the future.

Hearing people speak against this bill is really disappointing. For years the Labor Party have fought against the resentment from those opposite towards public education and against their efforts to undermine TAFEs, and we'll always have that fight. We're very prepared to have that fight.

We know that reducing access to free TAFE will leave many Australians without a pathway to gain the skills they need to secure well-paid employment, and that will end up worsening the divide—worsening inequality in this country. It will mean that there are a group of people who can afford education and a group of those who cannot. I for one do not want to see that divide in my community. I want everyone in my community to have the same opportunity to access a good education, and I would hope every single person in this House would agree with that proposition.

Those opposite want to exacerbate educational inequality and make it harder for people to access affordable vocational education and training and set themselves up for the life that they deserve. Excluding people from opportunities and stifling their aspirations are what is presented to us by those opposite. The reason that we know this will be really bad for the country is that we saw the damage and destruction caused last time those opposite were in government. Their disregard for the VET system and their disregard for the skills of Australians meant that the system was left in a really bad state.

We shouldn't be limiting people's access to pathways. We shouldn't make it harder for people to become healthcare workers, to work in construction or to work in technology. Governments, I think, are reasonably expected to open doors, not slam them shut. I do not want to see cuts to vocational education, and I'm really worried about what it would mean for my community if Peter Dutton ever became Prime Minister. We know that that would also mean that the experience of older workers would be lost—

Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, I ask the member to refer to members by their correct titles.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition instead of 'Peter Dutton'.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leader of the Opposition—I'm very sorry.

We know that if the Leader of the Opposition became Prime Minister, housing and energy projects would not get off the ground because of skill shortages. We know that businesses would need to look overseas for workers instead of employing Australians here at home. I suppose that's a quandary that the Leader of the Opposition needs to resolve, given his particular attitude to migration at this point in time.

We don't want education to be a privilege; we want education to be a right for all Australians. For the prosperity of our nation, we cannot afford to cut off the pathways, to close the doors of opportunity for people to access vocational education and training. So I am really proud to be a defender of TAFE. I'm really proud to support this bill to make free TAFE permanent, to provide more opportunities for more Australians to access the education that they want and that they deserve.

Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak against the Free TAFE Bill 2024 not because anyone is against TAFE or against vocational training but because this particular bill is emblematic of a completely shambolic approach by this terrible Labor government to any policy implementation. I will explain for those couple of viewers perhaps tuning in at home why I say that this is such a clear example of this government's incompetence.

Effectively, this is an untested and uncosted experiment with Australian taxpayers' money. That was set out in the documents that were tabled by the minister when the bill was presented to this House. I wonder if there is any sort of financial competence that could be displayed on that side of the House when on page 3 of the explanatory memorandum the comment under 'Financial Impact Statement' says:

There is no financial impact resulting from the Free TAFE Bill 2024.

It would seem that they were either prepared to sign a blank cheque or not being upfront and honest about what the real cost of this will be to Australian taxpayers. Later in the day, we found out that the minister does in fact have some concept of what the cost might be. The Minister for Skills and Training, Minister Giles, has today said it could cost at least $253.7 million a year. Again, when we are talking about financial competency or ministerial competency, what are the unfortunate chances that the Prime Minister will have shifted this particular minister out of one botched portfolio over into an area where you would think he probably just could not muck it up—and yet here we have documents that have completely omitted a fundamentally important part of it: the cost.

I don't hold a great deal of faith in Minister Giles, as I'm sure the House is well aware, based on his track record of delivery in other portfolios. I'll tell you who I do have some faith in, and that's our shadow, the member for Farrer, who I think had a pretty good grasp of this whole thing of higher education and this particular sector of higher education. She spoke on this particular bill earlier, and I'm going to quote some of why I believe what we say on this holds more credibility than what Minister Giles says. She said, for example:

I understand that skills is a critical area of policy for the future of our nation and the future of our young people. When I finished school, I couldn't think of anything worse than sitting in an office, so I went to my local training provider and pursued a vocational qualification in aviation. And it changed my life. That's why I love skills.

Contrast that with the absolutely shambolic approach taken to policy by this minister and this government.

I also found, in the legislation, what could actually prove to be a cruel joke and a cruel hoax on Australians. I looked at the definitions, and it says, for example:

FT place

'FT' is short for 'free TAFE'—

means a free place in a course at a TAFE institution or a course provided by another VET provider.

Note: An FT place may not be free of all fees.

I just wonder whether this minister is across the detail of what's going to be required to deliver on this corflute campaign that's being constructed at the expense of every Australian taxpayer. This is not free. Every Australian is funding this untested experiment by this Labor government. You might wonder why it's worthwhile pausing to test and measure whether this program could or should work, and I'm going to point out one particular thing that is critically important in understanding where this funding is directed. Again, to quote our shadow minister: 'TAFE is not all vocational educational training. TAFE is just the state government run public training provider. Labor's approach to skills is akin to only funding state run public schools and then refusing to fund non-government schools. We should not accept that, and, quite frankly, we just wouldn't.' But this government is so keen to chase the election-winning headline. We heard the member for Chisholm earlier. She's right on message. She's in a marginal seat, and she will be chirping this stuff constantly—free TAFE, free TAFE. This is, make no mistake, a corflute campaign for the next election that's being funded by every Australian taxpayer.

Most people won't benefit from it, but I can assure you one thing: we are all going to pay for it. Perhaps at the next election when you walk into a polling booth those corflutes shouldn't say 'Free TAFE under Labor'; they should say 'Taxpayer funded TAFE provided by Labor because we decided that was the form of vocational education and training that we supported over and above all others'. That is effectively what is being done here. This Labor government are taking a gamble on one single form of vocational education and training, being the state run provider—a completely inflexible ill thought out approach—and it completely defies the logical application of thought to how training outcomes are achieved in reality.

I know that those opposite make much fun around what the coalition thinks of Australian skills, and I might just point this out before I forget. I've identified where there is a real skills shortage in Australia. It's on that front bench over there. So it may well prove that that's where the training should be headed. I think it's worthwhile reflecting on the coalition's track record in this area, because we actually back vocational education and training. We don't just back one part of the sector. We want to back the whole sector.

The coalition handed this Albanese Labor government a skills and training system that was not just trending up but powering ahead on the back of record investments, guaranteed by a strong economy. The policies that the coalition invested in were over $13 billion in skills in the final two years of the government alone, representing the most significant reforms to Aussie skills in over a decade. The number of trade apprentices in training hit record highs in the final months of the coalition government, and as of June 2022 there were 429,000 apprentices and trainees in training and 277,900 commencements.

Data released by the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research confirms that Australia has lost almost 85,000 apprentices and trainees from the national training pipeline since this Labor government took office—about one in five. That effectively means there are over 100,000 fewer apprentices and trainees starting a trade or a skill, or a drop of almost 40 per cent, since Labor took office. We know that, under Labor, Australia is building fewer homes, skill shortages have worsened and we have lost one in five apprentices and trainees across this country. All of that is adding to increased inflation and higher prices.

As I said earlier, the problem with Labor's TAFE-only approach is that we should be supporting every student, not just some. We want to back all of them, regardless of whether they're at a training TAFE or at an independent provider. The problem with this Albanese government's approach is that they've undertaken a skills policy that directs funds to just one part of the training sector rather than all of it. We're not anti-TAFE; we are pro-TAFE as part of a mix of training and vocational education opportunities that should be available to Australians. That means we should be allowing access to all of those options, not just one pathway.

The Prime Minister and Minister Giles have repeatedly dodged questions about how many Australians have completed or dropped out of the 500,000 fee-free TAFE courses. We know that their own talking points state that just 13 per cent of the fee-free TAFE enrolments have resulted in a qualification being completed, at a whopping cost of $1.5 billion. Labor knows that they're hiding the failure rate, because they know that fee-free TAFE is not keeping pace with training outcomes for other training pathways, including industry training providers.

While fee-free TAFE is delivering a completion rate of only 13 per cent, industry led training providers have completion rates as high as 80 to 90 per cent. Labor are trying to pass off the low completion rates as being due to the length of courses, and that is completely misleading. They don't want you to know the detail; they just want you to see the headline.

Departmental officials confirmed last night that the courses with the highest enrolments include—just so we can use some examples here—Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care, Certificate 3 in Individual Support, Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and Certificate IV in Cyber Security. These courses take 12 months at most. Industry sources suggest free TAFE fail rates could be as high as 55 to 60 per cent across many courses, and some in the training sector have indicated that some courses could have failure rates as high as 70 to 90 per cent. So we've got to ask ourselves this question: is this policy and is this legislation a good idea?

Those opposite, including the member for Chisholm, will continue to parrot on about access to education—blah, blah, blah. Can I tell you: they are all over to shop on education, skills and training. There is an incoherent mess going on in all of those sectors. Why? Because they're trying to chase the coreflute headline. If you compare what's going on between TAFE, which they want to make free; private VET providers, which are not free; uni fees, which are very high under the government—maybe they're going to offer 20 per cent off to a group of people next year, if the wind's blowing from the south-east or whatever the case may be. None of this makes sense. No actual thought has been put into a coherent reform package to make skills and training more accessible, more efficient and a good use of Australian taxpayers' money. Ultimately, that's what we need to be worried about. This is really nothing more than an election slogan that's being funded by everyday Australians. They've taken away the ability for them to use a price signal to try and encourage certain courses. They haven't reviewed what's been going on, and this, I reckon, will be a failure for Australian taxpayers.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Free TAFE Bill 2024, an important bill. It's important because of the skills shortages we have in this country. If you have a look at the number skills shortages right across the nation, fee-free TAFE will assist the next generation to get the skills that they require to learn the trades to fill those positions. Currently, we are bringing people in from overseas for traditional trades that we always did ourselves—electricians, plumbers, mechanics et cetera. When you add onto that the high-tech jobs that are being created and, in my own home state, the Defence build that's taking place, including the AUKUS submarines that will eventually start being built down there, we are looking at thousands and thousands of jobs that will have to be filled. And they're not just blue-collar jobs; they're jobs that will require trades, skills and high-tech skills as well. So I'm very proud of this bill and what it's committed to.

Many years ago, TAFEs started off as technical colleges around the country, certifying different trades. They were trades colleges, trades schools et cetera. More courses were introduced in the seventies and eighties. Why was that? There were more courses introduced to give people the skills and foundations to better their lives using the skills that they learnt at TAFE and the experiences that they had at TAFE. This system has assisted thousands of people across our nation for many years.

I'm a product of TAFE. I finished high school and enrolled into higher education for accounting, which I absolute disliked. I couldn't fathom it for some reason—and that's not to discourage anyone else who wants to do it or the wonderful accountants out there—so I dropped out and went into the workforce. I did a whole range of things: I worked in factories and drove taxis for a number of years. And then I enrolled in TAFE. I picked up some skills; I did some business courses including accounting, bookkeeping, business law I, business law II, contract law—a whole range of things. TAFE assisted me.

Back then—I was in my mid to late 20s when I was studying—the fees were $30 a semester. That allowed me to pay that very small fee to do these courses and to enter the next period of my life with better skills. If, for whatever reason, those fees had been much higher—at that time I had a mortgage as well—I perhaps wouldn't have been able to achieve what I have achieved and be where I am today.

It's very important that we go back to the basics, back to the core, of those original TAFE beliefs. What were they there for? They were there to encourage people to pick up skills, to take the next step in their life, to learn things and perhaps to get a better job—or just a job in itself. It's very important, so I'm very pleased that this particular bill will allow many, many people to pick up skills and fill positions that we're going to need.

I will go back to my own home state. Last week I had the Deputy Prime Minister in my electorate at the TAFE SA Regency campus. Regency TAFE, for those who are not from South Australia, is our old trades school. It's where apprentices go to learn everything from plumbing or electrical to mechanics or engineering—a whole range of things. The courses that will be offered there will work in conjunction with our defence building industries. Courses will be created to fill the positions that we're going to require as a state and as a nation to build our submarines, defence ships and a whole range of other things.

It's already estimated that we will require approximately 30,000 skilled positions. It's a pretty good problem to have as a state, I think. But, unless we train them today, where are we going to find these skilled people to fill those 30,000 positions within the next 10 years. That is what this is all about. It's about training people to ensure that we have the skills for the future. It's about ensuring that we give them the opportunity to train so we're not burdening them and having them walk away from training and trades but encouraging them.

I've been listening to the other side. Because it's a publicly funded proposal that we're putting forward, it's totally disliked and opposed. It's like anything else that's public, whether it be Medicare, public education or a whole range of other things. I'm quite surprised that the opposition will be opposing this bill, because this gives the next generation a future. People who, for whatever reason, perhaps haven't got that future right now will have an opportunity to attend TAFE and do courses. Also, this will ensure that we have those skills that are going to be required into the future.

Many years ago, in the fifties—I've told this story many times here—the Premier at the time in South Australia, Mr Playford, who was a Liberal Premier, had the vision of creating a car-manufacturing state. He achieved it. At the time an industrial manufacturing revolution took place in South Australia. Many migrants came. They migrated to South Australia. My parents were a part of that cohort, and my father worked at General Motors-Holden for years afterwards.

We're seeing a second manufacturing revolution in South Australia through the AUKUS build and the defence build that's taking place down there. The difference this time is that we need highly skilled workers. It won't just be welders and electricians. I visited Osbourne, where the Collins class boats were built and other defence ships are being built. Yes, we need to train welders, but specifically for those industries—for example, to work in very tight spots, unlike a normal welder in a big workshop. Electricians will work in a very confined space. These skills are all being taught, and will be taught, at the Regency TAFE in my electorate.

The Deputy Prime Minister and I had the Minister for Skills and Training with us, and Stephen Mullighan the South Australian Treasurer and Minister for Defence and Space Industries, and Blair Boyer, the Minister for Education Training and Skills, came along with us. Of course, this announcement was made in South Australia specifically because, for us, it is of massive benefit to be able to train people to fill these positions.

At the Regency campus last week in my electorate, the Deputy Prime Minister announced again the enduring feature of Australia's vocational educational training system: the funding of 100,000 fee-free TAFE places a year from 2027. This will yield significant benefits, particularly for my home state. Again, I go back to those skills that we're going to require and the 30,000 positions that are being envisaged at this point for the AUKUS build over the next 10 to 20 years. If we don't start training people now—if we don't give younger people the opportunity to take on these particular skills—then we'll still be in the same position, looking at 457 visas and trying to bring people in from overseas to fill these positions, when many of our young people, given the opportunity, would embrace it with open arms.

Again, it's not just the trades. There are many other areas where we see our current employment changing for service industries. One would be the care industry, for a population that's ageing fairly rapidly. Many people are choosing to stay home with carers who visit them, ensuring that they're okay and looking after their health—taking them out shopping. It's a very important part. Of course, we have a duty as a government to look after those people who, in their retirement, need care at home for whatever reason. And of course many of these positions will be training a lot of our carers to look after our elderly Australians.

Another example of work being done between the federal government and the South Australian government is that they're investing in more than 20 initiatives, including the Skills and Training Academy, the Skills Pathway Program and the Commonwealth supported STEM places at the University of Adelaide and Flinders University. And all the skills that will be required for the sub build and the defence build won't be just from TAFE. We will also need nuclear engineers, architects et cetera. This announcement has been a significant step in respect of the build of our AUKUS submarines, with the signing of the tripartite agreement between the Commonwealth government, ASC and BAE Systems to commence preparatory work. Part of this preparatory work is the fee-free TAFE bill, which will ensure that we get those skills that we're going to require in order to fill those positions in the very near future.

The AUKUS agreement with two of our key allies, the US and the UK, and the AUKUS nuclear submarine pathway through which Australia will acquire the conventionally armed nuclear powered submarine capability is very much front of mind for all South Australians. For us it is one of the biggest projects we have endeavoured to bring to fruition. And of course we know that this government is creating jobs. We're creating jobs across Australia. We're building services and upgrading facilities, especially in my state, as I said, for the AUKUS submarines to keep Australians safe while, at the same time, building and supporting a future made in Australia.

We can create those positions, get the economic environment perfect for getting the manufacturing going, but without those skills we aren't going to get there. We need those skills. That's why we need this fee-free TAFE for people who want to upskill, to fill those positions that will be part of the future made in Australia, plus the high-tech jobs in defence: the AUKUS build, defence shipbuilding in Perth and in South Australia and other places around the country—with added manufacturing spin-off jobs as well, which will be high-tech and very important.

Some of these trainees from the announcement the other day will commence training programs supported by this particular academy in the 2024-25 financial year. A further 4,000 to 5,500 direct shipyard jobs will be created to build those submarines in South Australia through those high skills, not to mention the other jobs that will be created—almost double the workforce forecast by the coalition government for the Attack-class program.

The government is investing at least $2 billion in South Australia to support this infrastructure. Part of that investment—again, I go back to the fee-free TAFE bill—is to be able to skill these people. As I said, many years ago we had a manufacturing revolution in South Australia because of Premier Playford, who brought GMH to Adelaide, and Chrysler followed soon after—thousands of manufacturing jobs. People would apply for a job and start the next day. When Holden shut down in 2013 or 2014, you had to do a six-week course at TAFE before you could actually start. That's how these positions and these jobs are changing. The submarine build and the defence build will be much higher tech than Holden was 10 years ago. So it's very important that TAFE opens doors for people across Australia who are looking to gain well-paid and secure work, and this government is delivering the training that Australians want and the skills they need to get ahead.

There would be many people out there who, for whatever reason, didn't continue on to university or who aren't working for whatever reason. Their being able to enrol at TAFE and pick up some basic skills to get them to that first step is so important. It is so important to give those people an opportunity. In my own case, who knows where I would be today if it weren't for TAFE and those very low fees at the time? It was around $30 a semester to do two to three subjects every semester. Had the prices been the equivalent of what they are today, I don't think I would have been able to go onto that next step in my life journey.

We need to offer the opportunities that were offered to me to the next generation of Australians who want to carry on and better their lives or get jobs where they can contribute. We need to give them those opportunities.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can tell the member for Adelaide where he'd be were it not for TAFE. He'd probably be floating in the Aegean Sea somewhere off the island of Kastellorizo! He's a good man, and there were some elements to his speech which I wholeheartedly agree with, like when he said that the government was delivering. Yes, they are delivering. They are delivering on the coalition's AUKUS proposal, the coalition's AUKUS idea. When he talked about the 30,000 jobs needed for the submarine build, that's important, and it's going to very much rely on those valuable trades and those imperative skills.

The senior economist at the Housing Industry Association, Matt King, recently stated:

The HIA Trades Availability Index for the September Qtr 2024 revealed a worsening of the national skilled trades shortage scenario…

In the media release issued on 22 October, he had this further to say:

"The residential building industry currently employs approximately 278,000 tradies across the twelve key trade occupations required for home building. The trades workforce needs to grow by at least 30 per cent to meet a 1.2 million home target over the next 5 years. That is over 83,000 additional tradies.

He continued:

"The most acute shortages of skilled tradespeople remain in bricklaying, tiling, plastering and carpentry.

"This means a significant boost is needed in a variety of trade occupations to get these much-needed homes completed.

"Despite concerted efforts to boost the domestic trades workforce, significant challenges remain. Creating career opportunities for the local workforce must be the priority, however this alone will not solve the tradie shortage.

Labor has itself in a bit of a pickle, because Labor did promise to build 1.2 million homes. Under Labor's watch, we have migration which is way exceeding in a month what we once took in over a 12-month period during the Howard years of government. This immigration policy is indeed alarming because we have people coming here at a rate we cannot sustain, certainly not in the housing industry.

Then we have a Victorian government that seems averse to having a timber industry. We've got a Victorian state government which doesn't want any new homes to have gas appliances. When you're trying to stymie the industry as far as how you are going to power homes, when you are trying to stall the industry as to what you're going to build those homes with—that is, timber—it is a one-way street to disaster.

Labor are on this one-way street to disaster, and then they bring in policies such as this. The coalition is perturbed, because people should see this for what it truly is. After uncovering that Labor's commitment to make free TAFE permanent is unfunded, it's incumbent upon us to call it out for what it is. Australian students deserve better than fake pledges on skills and training. I appreciate that the member for Adelaide is a graduate of TAFE, as am I. I hold near and dear those lessons I learnt at the technical and further education campus at Wagga Wagga. But the coalition opposes this free TAFE legislation because it is unfunded. Not just that, it has the potential to increase the Commonwealth's spending by $500 million a year. Labor can't just keep throwing money out there and pretending that it's all costed, it's all in the budget, it's all in the forward estimates, because it is creating a debt situation.

I appreciate that the Treasurer often goes to that dispatch box just over there and talks about the trillion dollars worth of Liberal Party debt that Labor inherited. Let's unpack that for a bit. It was nowhere near a trillion dollars and, if it is a trillion dollars now, it's on his watch. It's on his head. It was nowhere near a trillion dollars. He seems to forget that the Liberals were in government with the Nationals, but, worse than that and more than that, he doesn't ever qualify his remarks by saying that the coalition was dealing with a global pandemic which had the biggest economic downturn in this nation—Labor will say it was since the global financial crisis, but it was since the Great Depression of the late twenties and early thirties.

He was not around that table—I was—when the Chief Health Officer for this nation and the Chief of the Defence Force gave the alarming news about how terrible COVID was, could be and, indeed, had we not acted, would have been. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, which assesses how well nations do as far as preparedness and also what nations did as far as recovery and economic activity during the actual global pandemic of COVID-19, showed that Australia was ranked second in the world. That is because, yes, we spent a lot of money. We spent a lot of money through JobKeeper. We spent a lot of money through vaccines. We spent a lot of money saving jobs and protecting people's lives. The Treasurer is being disingenuous when he doesn't refer to that, because, but for that spend—but for that money that went out the Treasury doors—there would be a lot of people who would not be in a job, there would be a lot of businesses which would now be bankrupt and there would be a lot of people who, quite frankly, would not be alive. We saved their lives. The first order of government is to protect its people, and we did just that.

Indeed, 1.1 million jobs were created since the pandemic hit. This was the last term of the Morrison government. Seven hundred thousand jobs were saved through JobKeeper. One that I'm particularly proud of is 220,000 trade apprentices. That was a record high for Australia and that came under our economic stewardship. That came in our government. Indeed, that is proof positive of just what we did during the pandemic to cope with COVID-19 and to make sure that our country was economically on a good footing and that lives were being saved.

And yet now we have a government that, irresponsibly, is just throwing money like there was no tomorrow. With any luck, for this government, there will be no tomorrow, because people will be wise as to what this government offers—or, indeed, what it does not offer—and, at the next election, will vote for a Liberal-Nationals return. That is very much needed.

This legislation permanently commits the Commonwealth to fund free TAFE before it's reviewed. Senate estimates confirmed that there's been no review conducted into this proposal, into this expenditure. You could be seeing anywhere up to a billion dollars being spent on a program which is just there for Labor largesse.

I've always said that a TAFE certificate is just as valuable as a university degree, if not more so. You might think I would say that. I have any number of TAFE certificates and I do not have a university degree. I know that piece of paper is every bit as valuable as a tertiary degree for those TAFE students, because it opens doors to a better future. Australia needs to continue to support and encourage our young people, as well as anyone of any age seeking to upskill, to pursue an education through TAFE. After all, it's the men and women with the skilled trades—builders, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, agriculture workers and many more—who keep our country running. They do.

We have the Greens political party, who will be preferencing Labor, and vice versa, at the next election. But they don't understand that it's those tradies who keep the lights on, who keep the taps working and, indeed, who build the infrastructure which sustains modern civil society. Too often, these inner-city types have no understanding or appreciation of the work involved to sustain their quality of life. I stand adamantly alongside and with tradies and workers and the efforts to train more. And so does the coalition. The coalition government allocated $2.1 billion to give Australians the opportunity to upskill. I mentioned the statistics before. The work we were doing, the funding we were investing went to the heart of what we needed to make sure that we had the right number of apprentices, the right number of people in the right programs in the right places.

Here we have a Labor government, which has made all sorts of promises about building homes, not reining its states in when it had the opportunity. We well remember when it was wall-to-wall Labor on mainland Australia. Thankfully, the Northern Territory has returned to a Country Liberal Party government, and also thankfully Queensland has returned to a Liberal National Party government. But Labor did have the opportunity, when it was wall-to-wall red across mainland Australia, to rein those states in and to help them on that ambitious program of building more homes, but they did nothing and they said nothing. Do you know why? It was because they were too focused on a divisive referendum called the Voice.

That was the first and only priority that Labor did in its first months and months of office. It took the Australian people to say no to that. Then what happened? Presto, the next day, all of a sudden, the cost of living became the government's focus. They hadn't addressed the cost-of-living issue. They hadn't addressed the homes crisis. They still haven't addressed either of those. Worse still, we are still getting a flood of people into this nation each and every month. We heard today in question time a new person comes in every 44 seconds. Yet Labor's saying: 'Nothing to see here. It's all okay.' Well, it's not all okay.

We need to get back to the basics. We need to ensure that, yes, we have a viable, operational TAFE. This bill, this legislation, this proposal, is purely symbolic. It's typical tokenistic behaviour by Labor. Sadly, people see it for what it is. So many of Labor's endeavours are just that—they are media opportunities that have no substance and they haven't been thought through. We heard from the HIA; they're ringing the bell on what's going wrong. They are a good organisation. They can see what is happening. Labor needs to address this crisis. Unfortunately, they won't. They still have their heads in the wrong issues, and they're taking Australians and the nation over the cliff with them.

A footnote in the legislation states that an FT place may not be free of all fees and the fees covered will depend on the terms and conditions of the relevant FT agreement. How interesting! How many people will still have to pay for their TAFE course? It's a good question. It's no surprise from a government that thrives on trying to—I would say deceive, but I'll be kinder and just say pull the wool over the eyes of the Australian people and taxpayers. But it is a bit of deceit, and it gets worse. Labor is asking the Australian people to accept the bill when they haven't done the proper and due process before it comes into this place. That is so typical of Labor. They don't consult stakeholders; they don't properly cost things; they don't properly look through things and see what are the unintended consequences. Instead, they come here with a bill that is going to put additional funding on the budget without doing all the due process. It's typical of Labor. The opposition will not support this bill.

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When I think about the future of education in Australia, I don't have to look too far to see it. In Bennelong, we are very fortunate to have a great university in Macquarie University, but importantly we also have not one but two outstanding TAFE campuses: the mighty Meadowbank Campus and the extraordinary Ryde TAFE, right in the middle of the electorate. Both of these campuses are hubs of opportunity, growth and innovation, and have been so for decades.

Every day Meadowbank TAFE and Ryde TAFE help people to change their lives. They are where students from all walks of life—school leavers, career changers, parents returning to the workforce and lifelong learners—come to gain skills they need for better jobs, better pay and better careers. On these campuses, students are learning to build, create, care and innovate. They're training to become nurses, chefs, electricians, IT specialists, tech workers and, importantly, early childhood educators. These are the skills that we'll need to keep our economy running and growing. These are the workers who'll help us transition to a renewable future, who'll build our homes, who'll staff our tech industry and who'll build the infrastructure that Bennelong and Australia need to thrive.

TAFEs, like Meadowbank and Ryde, are pillars of our community. They embody the values that we hold dear in Bennelong: opportunity, fairness and the belief that education is a pathway to a brighter future, and they give us real examples of the profound impact that occurs when we invest in people not just for their benefit but for the benefit of our whole society. Since we've come to office, fee-free TAFE has been a game changer. In just 18 months, fee-free TAFE has changed the lives of more than half a million Aussies; 508,000 people have accessed this extraordinary policy in training and education, setting them on a path to well-paid and secure jobs. They're real people with real stories—a single mum retraining to be an aged care nurse, a young tradie who we need to build more homes and people like Clare from Ryde, who has retrained to become an accountant with the ambition to start her own small business.

The Free Tafe Bill 2024 that we're debating today locks in that great Labor TAFE policy and seeks to make it permanent. It'll mean that more people, regardless of their background, will have the chance to gain the skills they need for better pay and a better life. Permanent free TAFE is our answer to the skills crisis that has plagued Australia for too long. Industries across the board are crying out for skilled workers. Childcare centres need early educators, aged care homes need carers, construction sites need tradies and tech businesses, many of which are in my electorate, need tech workers. By providing free training we're not just providing cost-of-living relief; we're helping address skills shortages in industries that we know need support. We're bringing everyone to the table to build a TAFE system that works for Australia—its students, educators, industry and employers—because we don't want to go through another skills crisis in our modern and changing economy. Nine in 10 new jobs over the next decade will require post-school study, and half of these will need vocational education and training. Fee-free TAFE ensures that we will be ready to meet this demand.

But, while this government is driving forward, the opposition wants to drag us back. Let's be real about what's at stake here. Under the Liberals and Nationals, they have made their stance clear. They don't believe in this bill. They don't believe in TAFE. Their actions—and their lack of action when they were in government—speak volumes about their priorities. When in government, we're committed to removing barriers to education. The coalition record was the opposite. They slashed $3 billion from the VET system, and they left us with one of the largest skills shortages in the OECD. Under their watch, housing projects stalled because there weren't enough workers to lay the foundations, and today we all know we're still catching up. Hospitality businesses were struggling to get the baristas, chefs and staff they needed to grow post-pandemic, and many businesses were forced to look overseas to fill skills gaps that should have been filled by trained Aussies. This wasn't an accident. This was a direct result of the short-sighted policies under the former government.

When the Leader of the Opposition and the Liberals talk about vocational education today, it's not to support it; it's to dismantle it. The Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party called fee-free TAFE wasteful spending. Tell that to the aged-care nurse who's retraining to provide really important care. Tell that to the early childhood educator shaping young minds. Tell that to the tech worker building the digital economy that we need for the future. The fact that they find TAFE wasteful spending tells me that they don't value the vital role that TAFE plays in our communities nor do they understand the economic and social benefits that a TAFE education brings. The Liberals' approach to vocational education reflects a broader problem that they have. They don't believe in investing in young people. They don't trust in Australians' aspirations, and they certainly don't see TAFE as a way to change people's lives and increase people's wages. Under their vision, or lack thereof, older workers looking to retrain will be left behind. Their decades of experience will be wasted because they might not be able to afford access to the education they need to re-enter the workforce. Young people eager to step into that tradie job will be locked out because they might not have the $5,000 or $10,000 they need to train in TAFE.

This isn't just a hypothetical; we saw this happen under their watch. They devalued TAFE. They cut funding to the VET sector. The coalition continues to send a clear message that they do not believe in TAFE. That's not the Australia I believe in. It's not the Australia that the Labor Party believes in. Their approach is one of destruction. They view public TAFEs as a liability, not an asset, and they treat Australians' aspirations as an inconvenience and not an opportunity.

So the choice before us couldn't be clearer. On this side, we have a government committed to public education, committed to fee-free TAFE, opportunity, fairness and progress. On the other side, we have an opposition that has consistently demonstrated its disdain for TAFE and the VET sector and its disregard for the aspirations of young Australians. It's not just about this policy; it's about values. It's about whether we see TAFE as the cornerstone of our skills policy and as a cornerstone of a way for people to get better jobs and better pay. It's about whether we invest in these people who want to retrain or whether we abandon them. This fee-free TAFE bill is more than just a response to immediate challenges. It's a vision for the future. It ensures that our workforce will be prepared to meet the demand from emerging industries, from renewable energy to tech jobs, advanced manufacturing, construction work and hospitality. It will provide ongoing cost-of-living relief, not through short-term handouts but through a permanent policy to provide at least 100,000 fee-free TAFE opportunities every year. It's part of our broader commitment for a future—that we want a government to tackle the big challenges that face our nation, whether it's to ease cost-of-living relief pressures, to address climate change or to strengthen our care systems or our health system. We're focused everyday on delivering for Aussies, particularly in Bennelong. Fee-free TAFE is just one example of how we're doing that.

It's a policy that will create jobs, build industries and ensure that industries where there is a skills shortage it will be addressed. And it will ensure that, if you want to earn more money, you can go and do that through TAFE. It reflects our belief in the power of public education to change lives and our commitment to build a fairer and more inclusive Australia.

Debate interrupted.