Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The TAFE system is the largest educational institution in Australia. It's a publicly funded and publicly administered technical and further education institution that has served our nation well. It's older than the university system. They were established in the 19th century originally as schools of technology and the arts. Then, post the World War, they transitioned into the technical colleges as we know them today. TAFE has been a hallmark of Australia's apprenticeship and trainee system, which has served our nation well. It's a system that has generated international acclaim and has been studied and replicated in other developed nations as the gold standard for training apprentices and people in technical trades.

In Australia, like most nations at the moment, we have a shortage of skills. This shortage of skills is a handbrake on economic growth and growing productivity. In the current environment, where we have that shortage of skills, TAFE comes to the fore, because TAFE is the public education system through which we train our apprentice carpenters, plumbers, builders—apprentices for all sorts of different technical and trades based occupations. They all train through the TAFE system.

If we want to make sure we can build the houses of the future to meet the challenges that we have around supply, we need to make sure that we're training more apprentices in the TAFE system with those qualifications. And that is exactly what the Free TAFE Bill is about. It's about recognising that the TAFE system will meet the challenge of training the next generation of tradies. It's also about locking in accessibility to TAFE for those who want to study there in the future. We've had great success with the policies that were introduced by the Albanese government of fee-free TAFE in certain areas, predominantly where we've had skills shortages. We're now extending that and making it permanent because it has been delivering better results for the Australian economy and better training outcomes for those who want to take on technical and further education.

Labor's fee-free TAFE ensures that young Australians have access to quality training without the burden of a debt holding them back. In an environment with a tight cost of living, the decision whether or not you can pay the rent, afford groceries and undertake tertiary education is a reasonable one. For many young Australians the cost and the burden associated with taking on additional training may be too much. Well, this government removes that burden and that cost through this legislation. That will create opportunities for young Australians to study, to get those qualifications and to have good jobs and a brighter future. Many of them will go on to establish businesses of their own and employ other Australians.

In the community that I represent, we have Randwick TAFE. It's been an institution when it comes to training young apprentices and trainees in a whole host of industries in the eastern suburbs of Sydney for many, many decades. Despite the previous Liberal government's attempts to rationalise and to reduce the number of courses that were available at Randwick TAFE, we're seeing a resurgence in available opportunities and courses for young people to study. It's where students develop their skills and secure their future, and under our legislation they won't have to worry about a heavy debt burden weighing them down.

That's why we're taking this next step of making fee-free TAFE permanent. Through this legislation we'll guarantee 100,000 fee-free TAFE places across Australia every year. That builds on the government's partnership with the states and territories which delivered 180,000 fee-free TAFE places in 2023. The reason why we're doing it is that the results have been good and the results have demonstrated that the policy is working as it was intended to and returning dividends for the Australian people and for industry. More than 500,000 Australians have already enrolled in fee-free TAFE courses, and fee-free TAFE is reaching the people who need it most, with 170,000 young Australians, 124,000 jobseekers and 30,000 First Nations Australians getting a start through TAFE. Sixty per cent of these places have been taken up by women and a third by people in regional and remote Australia.

We talk about trying to produce outcomes that help with the skills shortage and that provide training and opportunities for women, for First Nations Australians and for people living in the regions, and this policy is delivering that. That's why we're investing further in it. The numbers tell a powerful story. Fee-free TAFE is breaking down barriers to education and creating life-changing opportunities. It's remarkable and it's almost unbelievable that the opposition would oppose a policy such as this, particularly in the environment of a skills shortage.

The coalition's record on TAFE shows their complete lack of understanding of its value to the Australian people. Their sneering at vocational education reveals an ideology that is out of touch with everyday Australians. If they had their way, access to TAFE would be cut, leaving many locked out of the skills and qualifications they need to secure well-paid jobs. We saw this happening the last time they were in government: a disregard for the vocational education and training system. I see this in New South Wales, in the state that I am from, where the previous Liberal government ripped the heart out of proper funding for public vocational education and training through the TAFE colleges. We saw a rationalisation of courses at various institutions that resulted in a decrease in the number of people taking on apprenticeships and completing them, and we're all paying the price for that now.

We're paying the price through skills shortages in vital trades across the country, particularly the building trades. We wonder why we've got a shortage of housing in Australia and why the costs of building housing have increased so dramatically. It's because we haven't trained enough Australians over the last decade to hold those essential skills that are vital to building housing and indeed the infrastructure that will support population expansion throughout the country. So businesses have been forced to look overseas for workers because Australians weren't given the skills that they needed. That's what we've seen. Under the previous government, we saw a reduction in the number of people taking on apprenticeships and traineeships and an increase in the number of skilled workers imported into the country to fill those gaps, and we're in the process of trying to reverse that—trying to get it moving the other way, with an increase in the number of people taking on trades and a reduction in the numbers and the need for imported overseas labour.

So we're making sure that every Australian gets access to the education and training that they deserve. We're investing in the skills needed to grow our economy while tackling workforce shortages in critical industries, and our Free TAFE Bill 2024 will help secure this future. It commits the Commonwealth to ongoing support for fee-free TAFE across the states and territories. It's not about locking the states into a rigid system. Instead, it builds on the strong partnerships we've developed in ensuring that fee free TAFE is tailored to meet those local and national needs.

It isn't just about education. It's about building a better future—removing financial barriers for Australians, particularly those who face economic disadvantage; providing cost-of-living relief for young Australians in particular, but also for older Australians who take on additional studies later in life and for families who need it most during a cost-of-living crunch; and delivering a coordinated response to workforce shortages in industries like health care, construction and renewable energy. Fee-free TAFE has already changed hundreds of thousands of lives. In just over 18 months, 508,000 Australians have enrolled, and they're in critical industries that will support economic growth into the future and are creating secure, well-paid jobs for Australians in priority areas. It's not just about investment in individuals; it's an investment, really, in future growth for our economy. We promised fee-free TAFE, and it's now here to stay. With this legislation, we are making a permanent commitment to ensuring that all Australians can access education and training.

There's nothing further I need to say, funnily enough, because this bill is so good it speaks for itself. I commend it to the House.

Debate adjourned.