Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese government is committed to investing in the skills Australia needs to drive economic growth. Our Free TAFE Bill offers greater certainty to students, employers and industry, and commits the Commonwealth to ongoing support to states and territories for free TAFE.

In regional areas like Gilmore, so many kids want to finish school and gain an apprenticeship or train at their local TAFE. Many don't want to leave home and move to the city to find work or go to uni. They are salt-of-the-earth kids. They've grown up in small coastal towns, and often they want to work hard and follow in the footsteps of their parents, grandparents and siblings, whether that's working as a tradie, a nurse or an early educator. I am so pleased that more than 4,400 students took up free TAFE in my electorate last year. That's school leavers, mums, dads and older people retraining and getting ahead without putting added financial pressure on their family. I've been on the ground and walking the streets, talking with local apprentices, employers and TAFE students to hear about how and why they chose an apprenticeship, and how fee-free TAFE is helping them.

Back in November I visited the Nowra TAFE campus with the Acting Prime Minister. We went into electrical and carpentry classes. We spoke with students and heard how fee-free TAFE is providing that bit of important financial relief for students and their families. These classes are booming at Nowra—training our tradies of the future—thanks to free TAFE.

In October I joined the Minister for Skills and Training to meet with twins Najara and Harrisen, both first-year motor mechanic apprentices at Batemans Bay. The 17-year-old siblings are being trained under the watchful eye of their father, Mark, the owner and director of Batemans Bay Automotive Repairs, who boast more than 20 years experience in the trade. The small family business has been employing and upskilling five apprentices since 2015, providing job opportunities for young people in our region. It was also really great to see this business employing women in a historically male dominated trade. Najara is working in a priority cohort, and has improved access to flexible, safe and inclusive training and work opportunities, which is just fantastic. I could see how passionate she was about cars, and it was great to see her interest in learning more about electric vehicles too. The pair travel to Nowra TAFE once a week and work in a workshop equipped with up-to-date scanning, diagnostic and programming tools for all modern vehicles. They are looking forward to one day taking the helm of their family business, and I'm delighted that TAFE is providing them with the variety of skills needed to do just that.

During the visit we also met with Robert Beattie, the owner of Beach House Stairs at Batemans Bay and a huge supporter of young people and TAFE. You could say Robert knows a bit about training young people, having employed an incredible 45 apprentice carpenters at his business over the past 38 years. It was really great to talk with him, as well as his three current apprentices, about the importance of building the skills and talent in the Australian workforce to meet current and future skills gaps. First-year carpentry apprentices Nathan and Nicholas and second-year apprentice Brendan said that, with no shortage of work in the building industry, they felt confident they had great careers ahead of them. Nathan, 17, from Moruya, said everyone in his family was a tradie, and he wanted to leave school and do hands-on work.

It was so amazing to learn that every one of Robert's employees completed their carpentry apprenticeship with his company. He said his staff could see that there was plenty of work on offer and were enthused by the potential earnings for tradespeople. Established in 1985, Beach House Stairs is a wonderful family business that builds custom designed staircases, timber handrails, balustrades and benchtops. Small businesses like these are committed to training our young people and helping them find their path to a secure future, and, under Labor, they have our support.

It's great to see TAFE booming on the South Coast and the recent introduction of the TAFE Certificate II in Aeroskills, which is also fee free. The aeroskills course is providing our young people with a pathway to an exciting career as an avionics maintainer, to support defence industry jobs locally. We're a proud Navy town, home to HMAS Albatross, the fleet air arm, and HMAS Creswell, so it's really important that we have defence related TAFE courses on offer here to give local students an entry into the industry. Defence and defence industry are our biggest employers, and this aeroskills course will provide local students with an opportunity to fill in-demand roles, such as aircraft maintenance engineers and aircraft line maintenance workers. Through a mixture of theory and practical units, the new course will give students insight from industry experienced teachers to ensure planes—and helicopters, of course—fly smoothly and safely. Students will gain practical experience and develop specialist skills to give them an advantage in the job market, including working on real aircraft components on a variety of aircraft and working safely and sustainably in the industry.

You can clearly see that I have been on the ground, talking with students, employers and apprentices, and I can tell you free TAFE is going gangbusters in Gilmore. I have travelled from one end of my electorate to the other and listened to young people who are training at TAFE and listened to adults who are retraining and gaining new skills. I've been walking the streets of our villages and towns in Gilmore and talking with people who are reaping the real rewards of fee-free TAFE. I've spoken to builders who are under the pump, constructing hundreds of new homes in our fast-growing region. They are screaming out for tradies, from plasterers to brickies, roofers and more. We need to build more homes, we need more tradies and, to do that, we need to continue free TAFE.

As hundreds of students prepare to commence another semester of TAFE in my electorate, including free TAFE courses, I am extremely disappointed that the opposition leader will not support our fee-free TAFE bill. The opposition are showing their absolute disregard for young people and families in regional communities like the South Coast and are completely out of touch with the needs of young Australians. The opposition leader and the Liberals will cut free TAFE funding, and Australians will pay more for TAFE. The opposition will take opportunities away from thousands of hardworking Australians who are getting the skills they need for the jobs they want.

The Liberals have ripped the guts out of TAFE before, and they have made it clear they will do it again. Last time they were in government, we saw the damage that their disregard for the VET system and skilling Australians did. We can't risk the Liberals slashing pathways for workers to enter essential industries like health care, construction and tech again. We have a responsibility to help people here and now. We owe it to the next generation of Australians to build an economy that unlocks their talents and rewards their efforts.

That starts with equal access to education for every Australian, no matter their background or financial situation. Free TAFE is an investment in our future, and it's an investment in our people, ensuring all Australians have the skills and capacity to contribute to a thriving economy. The Liberals' failure to invest in skilling up our people will leave businesses stranded and Australians locked out of reaching their potential.

Supporting vocational education and TAFE training is what Labor does. With high-quality skills and training, we are building a better Australia. A reliable and trusted VET sector is critical for our economy. Under the Liberals, you won't get that. They destroyed TAFE, and under the Liberals my local TAFE campuses looked like a ghost town, as classes were slashed and teachers sacked. I should know; I worked there for over 10 years.

Despite us saving ordinary Australians thousands on TAFE fees, the deputy opposition leader had the nerve to label free TAFE 'wasteful spending'. She says free TAFE isn't working. Well, I can tell you that the Liberals have got it very wrong, because under Labor my local TAFE campuses across Gilmore are thriving. There is a TAFE in nearly every community across Australia, and every community in Australia deserves access to great vocational education and training.

Peter Dutton's demolition of TAFE would mean housing and energy projects couldn't get off the ground because of skills shortages. Businesses would be forced to look overseas for workers instead of employing Australians here at home. Education should not be a privilege. A Labor government will always stand up for public education and local jobs. The Liberals cut $3 billion of funding from the VET system and TAFE, clearly demonstrating they don't understand or value the importance of strong TAFEs in our local communities. More than a third of all the enrolments in free TAFE have been in regional and rural areas like Gilmore.

Public education runs through my veins, and TAFE holds a special place in my heart. I will always fight for public education and stand up against any efforts to undermine TAFE. There is a clear choice at this election. The opposition leader and the Liberals will cut free TAFE funding, and Australians will pay more for TAFE. Under the Albanese government, free TAFE is here to stay.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Free TAFE Bill 2024. Vocational qualifications are an important part of the post-secondary education mix. However, completions of apprenticeships and traineeships have been in decline since hitting peaks in 2012 to 2014. This deeply concerns me. This decline did not occur in a vacuum.

In July 2012, commencement incentives for existing worker apprenticeships and traineeships not on the National Skills Needs List were introduced. In October 2012, additional commencement and completion incentives were removed—$4,000 for diplomas and advanced diplomas, except for aged care, child care and enrolled nursing, and $1,500 for part-time apprenticeships and traineeships. With these few examples, we're demonstrating that there's a direct correlation between vocational education and the incentives and participation. Quite simply, policy settings that incentivise commencements and completions work. We need more vocationally trained workers, and this bill does accommodate this need.

While I support this bill, I think that there are improvements that we could make to help support employers, with particular attention to small business. Small businesses with less than 20 employees account for 97 per cent of all businesses in Australia. Many, if not most, of these businesses just don't have the cash flow, ability or even capacity to take on apprentices or trainees without additional assistance from the government.

Anyone who knows about small business in construction knows that, for those first couple of years, the apprentice costs the employer money, and that's money that the employer or small business—particularly if they're a sole trader—can't afford to cover. In the third year, the cost of the apprentice pretty much breaks even, and in the fourth year they start to be able to charge out a little bit more because, by the fourth year, a person tends to have a bit more autonomy and independence. However, they're still under the apprenticeship. They're still being guided. So when we look at small businesses across Australia and we wonder why they're not taking them on, it's because of the cost. We are expecting small businesses to carry the load of training the next generation, whereas if you go back 30 years, it was actually government that was the biggest apprentice trainer in Australia—certainly in South Australia. The South Australian government was the largest apprentice holder. It's not anymore.

The other support that I think small businesses and apprentices need is greater support in mentoring, providing that relationship and connecting a young apprentice—or indeed an adult apprentice—with a support network so that they continue their apprenticeship and that they complete their apprenticeship, because too many people take on an apprenticeship and only get to second or third year for a variety of reasons. In my visits around my electorate, this is a common discussion point among small businesses. They want to employ more trainees and apprentices, but the constraints that I mentioned previously stop them from doing so. I acknowledge that there are a number of programs that exist in this space, but I think we can do more.

In reviewing submissions to the government's Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System, I thought the recommendations of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry were particularly useful. They included the creation of a five-year job-creation incentive program with standard base-level payments to all employers of apprentices of up to $2,000 per quarter across the first two years for trainees and apprentices. These are targeted incentives for those areas that are deemed in shortage by the Jobs and Skills Australia—of an additional $2,000 payment above that standard base payment payable to employers, as well as completion payments of $2,500 once the apprentice or trainee completes their qualification is payable to the employer and an additional amount of $3,000 to be payable quarterly across two years for an adult-age apprentice.

We talk about an adult-age apprentice, but, really, we're often talking about a young person, aged 22 or 23, who maybe got out of school and wasn't entirely sure what they were going to do. They might have worked in hospitality, fast food or whatever for those first couple of years and then think to themselves, 'Actually, I'd really like to take on an apprenticeship,' but by age 21 or 22, that's an adult apprenticeship. It is not a traditional junior apprenticeship under junior apprenticeship wages. A lot of employers will not take on that 21- or 22-year-old, simply for the enormous cost for that small business.

My other concern relates to the cap on the numbers and how the smaller states like South Australia will fair in the carve-up of these places. I support this bill, and I call on the government to give careful consideration to the employer incentives for small businesses as I mentioned and the equitable allocation of places across our nation to ensure that states like my state of South Australia get their fair share.

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Free TAFE Bill 2024 because Labor is, of course, the party of skills and training. We are the party of education for all, and we absolutely understand the power of education and how it can change someone's life. What has become very clear through the debate and the discussion in this place around this bill is that the Liberals do not understand this. They do not understand that fundamental to governing this country is helping people to get the skills and training they need to build a good career to provide workers for those industries that our country needs for the future. The actions and the words we are seeing from those on the other side show that they do not value this work. They do not value our education and our training system. They certainly do not value free TAFE. They've been very upfront about that. In fact, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition has said:

… if you don't pay for something, you don't value it.

The apprentices and trainees that I have met in local TAFEs in my community would disagree strongly with that statement. They do know that what they are doing at the moment is investing in their future and that what free TAFE gives them is the opportunity to do that—the opportunity to take up a career or a skillset that will last them for their lifetime. It is very clear this week that Labor is for helping Australians to get the skills to build their careers and our country. Of course, those opposite, the Liberals, are for taxpayers paying for bosses' lunch. It is a very clear contrast.

We have seen this contrast directly in my community in the past. My local community knows all too well what the Liberal Party thinks about TAFE. Locals remember that it was the Liberals in Victoria who oversaw the closure of the Greensborough TAFE in 2013. The impact of that was huge in our local community. It took away this longstanding local training institution for people in the northern end of my electorate. It took the return of a Labor government to see the Greensborough campus reopen in 2017, followed by the opening on the same site of the Banyule Nillumbik Tech School in 2018. Once again, the work of the Labor government has meant that countless people in Jagajaga, whether it be young people or older people retraining for new skills, have had the opportunity to take up education and training through TAFE. That is a really practical demonstration in my community of the value that Labor governments put on this work and the complete disregard that those opposite have.

I was very pleased last week to visit Melbourne Polytechnic in Heidelberg West in my community. I visited with the Minister for Skills and Training. I have been there a number of times, and I always enjoy talking with the apprentices, the students and the staff training them about the work they are undertaking. There is a big focus at that campus on building trades in particular. I was really pleased to be visiting last week because the minister was making a very exciting announcement, which is that this government will deliver a $50 million future-of-housing-construction centre of excellence at Heidelberg West. I'm really proud that this centre will be located in Jagajaga and that we will be home to the first dedicated training facility in Australia that's focused exclusively on advanced construction courses. What that will mean is that those people training at this centre will get the most up-to-date training in the construction of houses, looking at things like how we build more houses more quickly with less environmental impact and new models like prefab and modular. It is really exciting work. So those people will get training and cutting-edge skills at the same time that we are helping to push along the construction of new houses, which we most desperately need in this country.

Again, this is an example of how our government sees this investment in TAFE, this investment in helping people get the skills and training they need to build their future, as part of how we build our nation and do the work we need to do to build things like new houses and have people working in clean energy industries. This is nation-building work. I know in my electorate they are skills that in housing will be put to work locally in Heidelberg West, at places like Bell-Bardia, which is just up the road from Melbourne Polytechnic, where together with the Victorian government we're constructing 104 social and affordable homes with an investment of $27.5 million. That will be a big investment for my community.

I encourage all local students to have a look at the work that is happening at Melbourne Polytechnic—have a look at the opportunities that are there. It was fantastic speaking with a lot of the local students there about the experiences they are having through their apprenticeships and through their training. In the main, they were positive experiences, where they had found the blend of the practical work they were getting through their apprenticeships and of the training was really useful, and they could see how that was setting them up for an excellent career to come.

While I was at Melbourne Polytechnic I was also really pleased to meet Adam, a local who's been teaching plumbing to students there. Adam has a long history of working as a plumber, and he told me he had come to be teaching the profession so that he could give back to the next generation and help build that generation of workers we will need to continue to do this work. It was really great to talk to Adam about what he's getting out of teaching these skills, and as a government we absolutely want to encourage people to look at the option of teaching skills training and being part of the training workforce. We recognise, particularly in these types of construction trades, there may be older people who have worked for some time in the industry and are now perhaps looking to not to be on the tools all day every day, for the other opportunities that teaching provides and, as I said, to be able to give back the community. With teachers like Adam working in our local community I am confident that our local plumbing industry, our local plumbing apprentices and the future of construction in our local area are in good hands. I'm very pleased to see that.

Another area that I'm really pleased and encouraged to see growth in through the investment this government has been making in free TAFE is the opportunities it is providing for Australian women. Free TAFE has allowed women to take up opportunities that otherwise are hard to come by. We do know that six in 10 learners in free TAFE are women, and they're doing courses like nursing, cybersecurity, carpentry, mental health and early childhood education. I have spoken with a number of these women, including some who are taking some of the different pathways into construction apprenticeships, and they all talk about how much they appreciate the opportunity, how they really understand that this is setting them up to further their career and how they really value the skills that they have been able to gain as a result of free TAFE. These are all opportunities that would be taken away from Australian women under those opposite, who do not support free TAFE. These women would not have the opportunity to study, to grow their skill set and to grow their future prosperity and the prosperity of their families and our country under those opposite, who, for ideological reasons, are standing against this government's work to make free TAFE permanent in this country.

In terms of the flow-ons from Australian women being able to take up those training opportunities, we know we are already seeing positive results for women in the workforce. The latest data from the ABS tells us we are fast approaching seven million Australian women having jobs. The December 2024 data tells we've got more than six million Australian women with jobs. The vast majority of growth in women's jobs has been in full-time work—84 per cent of all new women's jobs—with the number of women in full-time work now reaching a record high of almost four million. That is impressive growth in that time, and we will see that continue as we see Australian women able to take up the opportunities that free TAFE provides.

None of this is a given. This is the work of Labor governments—to provide people with the opportunity that comes from education and to broaden that opportunity so that all Australians have the opportunity to take up a training, a skill and a career in an area that both works for them and contributes to our national prosperity and our national growth. Whether it is through a construction trade at Melbourne Polytechnic in Heidelberg West, where they're studying carpentry and plumbing and where they will be building the houses that we need to overcome our housing shortage in Australia, or it's studying a healthcare science or early childhood education, providing the workforce we need in those care industries, these are the opportunities that Labor is providing from free TAFE.

Of course, all we get from those opposite, once again, is an attempt to shut down these opportunities for Australians. Those opposite have very clearly said that they do not support this bill. They have suggested that, in fact, those who are taking up this opportunity do not value the opportunity. I really would encourage those opposite to get out and meet some of these apprentices and students who are doing this training. I can assure you that every single one I have met really appreciates the opportunity they are getting to set themselves up for the future, and that includes young people who are training for the first time. It includes older people who are retraining to extend their time in the workforce. It includes Australian women who are getting opportunities that they have not had before.

When we contrast the approach of this government, which is investing in these people to build their skills. to build their future and to have a career that is lasting and meaningful, with the approach of those opposite, which is both to deny that opportunity—to be very clear that they do not support that opportunity for people to get ahead in Australia—and, at the same time, to say that what they do support is Australian taxpayers funding a long lunch for bosses, which is actually outrageous, we get a very clear indication of the choice that will be before the Australian people when we go to ask them to support this government at an election. It is a very clear indication of this government's priorities: building Australia's future, making sure that all Australians can access that prosperity and giving young people and older people in my community the opportunity to gain the skills that will set them up for their future.

Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia has a significant skills shortage, and it's getting worse. In 2023, Jobs and Skills Australia estimated that 36 per cent of occupations were in shortage, five percentage points higher than in 2022. We desperately need to attract more people to critical services like aged care, health care, child care and construction to ensure the ongoing affordability and quality of the services we rely on. As I mentioned, we desperately need more construction workers, and to be training more construction workers, to alleviate the current housing shortage.

Finding ways to get more people trained is absolutely essential, and I strongly support initiatives that make a real difference to getting people trained up in the services that we really need. Anecdotally, I've also heard, for example, that the ability to access free TAFE is helping students, particularly those from disadvantaged cohorts that may not otherwise be able to skill and train, and I think that is really important. However, the impact appears to be at the margins, as we would expect. We know for the higher education system and poorly designed Job-ready Graduates scheme that fees play a smaller role than we might think in determining what profession people take up.

I acknowledge that the VET and higher education systems are different and that fees really do impact individual courses, but I think there are broader reasons why these industries are in shortage that are not addressed by this bill, and perhaps they should be. Free TAFE might be a good initiative—it might be—but it is expensive and, if it is not addressing the root causes, then perhaps the money could be better deployed. So my question really is: do we need to commit to this policy right now, when the current policy doesn't expire for another two years, and when we don't have the data or the information to consider whether it should be permanently implemented.

I do worry, I'll be honest, that this bill is politics over policy, signing up a future government to a commitment that looks good for an election now. The purpose of this bill is to provide for ongoing financial support to the states and territories for the delivery of free TAFE and vocational education and training places to ensure that people continue and complete their degrees. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations website currently states that the government and the states have partnered to deliver over $1.5 billion worth of funding for 500,000 fee-free TAFE and VET places over 2023 to 2026. The current program expires in 2026, with a new scheme to take effect in January 2027.

While I acknowledge the government wants to provide certainty to the sector, two years notice is not the standard notice in government given to the sector historically over other substantial pieces of legislation. Just a few months ago, the government was arguing for changes to international students, with less than six months notice for the universities to implement that timeframe. Two years notice seems luxurious in comparison, so I don't buy that this is the underlying reason.

The data on the scheme is a point of contention. I know completions is a blunt measure, but I am concerned that we do not yet have the information currently to put it into a permanent scheme. Again, anecdotally, because the data is so poor, I understand that the attrition in the sector is driven by poor quality pay and conditions in jobs and apprenticeships that graduates participate in. I note that there is a review underway on this issue, with apprenticeships covering the topic of attrition and declining completions in apprenticeships. Given that all of these are interconnected, I think it would have been prudent to wait for the final report, or, even better, we could have commissioned a review of fee-free TAFE.

I understand that free TAFE shows a commitment to addressing the skills shortages, supporting disadvantaged cohorts and boosting economic participation. I don't disagree with the intentions of the bill, and I believe that I could support a policy that looks to deliver free TAFE, but I do not understand the urgency to push this through right now. The current scheme is not expiring, and we do not yet have the data, at least in the public domain, nor has there been a proper review to make an informed decision about the outcomes of this bill and whether it is value for money for the outcomes we are seeking. I wonder if we could better achieve these goals and reduce attrition challenges by providing more targeted measures for marginal cohorts and using the others to improve the pay and conditions of the jobs that these trainees ultimately participate in.

The truth is that I don't know the answer to these questions because we don't yet have the data, but, without the evidence, I find it really difficult to support a piece of legislation that is not urgent. But, hey, there's an election soon, so I guess that explains the urgency.

Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to wholeheartedly support this important bill. The Free TAFE Bill locks in fee-free TAFE as an enduring feature of Australia's vocational education and training system. The Albanese government is guided by a simple principle: no-one held back, no-one left behind. Whether you're a student in Nundah, a tradie in Boondall or a parent in Stafford, you deserve the opportunity to build a good life for yourself and your family.

Labor believes that opening the door to these opportunities starts with education. Education is the most powerful tool we have to overcome disadvantage or retrain for a better paid, more secure job. It is the best investment we can deliver to build a future made in Australia.

Over the next decade, nine out of 10 new jobs will require post-secondary qualifications and almost half of those qualifications will need to come through vocational education and training pathways like TAFE. Labor's fee-free TAFE ensures that Australians are developing the skills they need to pursue a career in the trades and sectors that we need them in—more tradies to build more homes; more fabricators to restore our sovereign manufacturing capability; more ICT experts to harness the potential of the booming global digital economy; and more skilled carers to look after our loved ones in aged care, early education and the disability sectors.

The Free TAFE Bill builds on Labor's extensive work to reverse a decade of coalition neglect and rebuild TAFE for communities across Australia. In the first two years of fee-free TAFE, we have seen almost 508,000 enrolments. Of those enrolments, 131,000 have been in aged care and disability support; 48,900 have been in digital and tech; 35,000 have been in construction; and 35,500 have been in early childhood education. Fee-free TAFE is particularly benefiting Australians in typically vulnerable cohorts, including 170,000 young Australians, 124,000 jobseekers and 30,000 First Nations Australians. Of all places, six in 10 have been taken up by women and one in three in regional and remote Australia.

This is what fee-free TAFE is about: removing financial barriers to education and training to deliver a more prosperous and equitable Australia. Removing the financial barriers to starting TAFE is providing real cost-of-living relief and saving Australians thousands of dollars. A student in Zillmere training in the Diploma of Nursing can save up to $16,000. A student studying a certificate III in early childhood education in Taigum can save up to $1,000. And a student in Chermside who is undergoing a certificate IV in cybersecurity can save up to $8,000. That is a significant amount of money that they can put into their savings account for a house deposit or a rainy day.

Fee-free TAFE is a proud Australian story. It's a story about aspiration, about the pursuit of passion, about the gratification of hard work and about the satisfaction that can be found in achieving your goals.

As the member for Lilley and the Minister for Aged Care, I have had the privilege of hearing these stories firsthand. Mackenzie, whom I first met at her school leadership ceremony at Earnshaw State College in 2020, is now doing a Diploma of Nursing at the South Bank TAFE, and I couldn't be prouder of her. Nahid was a software engineer but decided to go and do a certificate III at the Canberra Institute of Technology because she wants to work with people, not mechanics. Ylizbeth, one of the most passionate aged-care workers whom I have met so far, is upskilling through fee-free TAFE to become an enrolled nurse, with the goal of one day becoming a registered nurse and then a doctor. Good luck, Ylizbeth.

But, as the Albanese government makes strides towards building a world-class VET system that is high quality and that is accessible, the coalition wait with bated breath to tear it all down. Whether it's TAFE, university, schooling or early education, the coalition have made it very clear how they feel about affordable and accessible education: they're against fee-free TAFE, they're against student debt relief and they're against affordable early education. They believe education is a privilege that should be paid for. When they were in government, they exacerbated education inequality by cutting $3 billion from the VET sector and they made it more expensive to go to uni. Given half a chance, they will do it again.

By investing in fee-free TAFE, Labor is sending a clear message to each and every person who is unsure about their future: we trust your aspirations, we support your education, we back you and we will always work to ensure the doors of opportunity are open for you. That is what Labor governments do. We help people under pressure and we build for the future.

Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Free TAFE Bill 2024, disingenuously titled as the bill appears to be unfunded. So we can't be so sure about the free bit, and we are none the wiser in relation to the 'who will be paying for it' bit as well. I can tell you who probably will be paying in terms of worse outcomes, wasted endeavour and unmet skill needs: the Australian people.

We see the risk of enormously wasted talent. Labor's own talking points on TAFE include that, of the 500,000 enrolments in so-called fee-free TAFE, only 13 per cent have so far resulted in a completed qualification, which means 87 per cent are yet to complete or have dropped out. Last year the South Australian skills minister let the cat out of the bag, providing evidence to the South Australian parliament in late October that the dropout rate for fee-free TAFE was around 13 per cent.

The detail of the bill, of course, reveals what we already know—a free TAFE place is not exactly free. A free TAFE place 'may not be free of all fees'. You'll find that in the small print—part 1, clause 5, 'Definitions', 'FT place'. This is what the bill says:

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

Then there's a note in smaller print:

An FT place may not be free of all fees. The fees covered will depend on the terms and conditions of the relevant FT agreement.

So, according to their own provisions, the free TAFE place may not in fact be free, or indeed, according to this provision of the bill, it may not even be at a TAFE. George Orwell would be so proud of this one.

This legislation, together with the Prime Minister's recent announcements regarding apprentices, shows you just how much vocational education is an afterthought for this Albanese government. We heard it yesterday in question time—university, university, university; cuts to HECS fees for current debt-holding university students or graduates. Yes, let's make all the tradies pay to wipe 20 per cent off a first-year lawyer's HECS debt. Lovely!

Almost no-one in Labor has run a business—certainly no business which requires vocational and training skills. It's obvious in all of their policy settings. If they had, they would see the devastating effect this measure in this bill is having on choice both for employers and future employees, as well as on the quality and quantity of graduates in precisely the skill groups and trades that this country desperately needs.

Let me give you a local example of the chaos this kind of measure is making in my community. Just before Christmas I went to visit Sharyn. Sharyn runs a private training organisation just over the boundary of my electorate, and I visited her RTO, Nepean Industry Edge Training, a couple of times to talk to her students and to understand what guides their career choices and their hopes for the future. But, just before Christmas, Sharyn called my office in a state of panic. She was distressed because of an announcement made by the Victorian government regarding changes to their Skills First funding program that changed which qualifications would be subsidised by the Victorian government to meet Victorian skill needs, the number of funded places available and the subsidy amounts to support students.

Sharyn was told that, overnight, funded places for her training organisation, NIET, would go from 180 to no more than 50, even though she had in place a two-year contract with the Victorian government which had allowed her to invest in upskilling her staff and to purchase new training equipment for students' needs. For the previous decade this training organisation, NIET, had had a thousand funded places, so the drop-off from the previous year had already been financially challenging. But this overnight change would in fact be devastating.

Sharyn was also summarily advised that the amount of money the Victorian government offered per student would be reduced by 35 per cent. Even for students who had been enrolled in 2024, there was no grandfathering under the funding agreement which had been on foot, and they were still completing their courses in 2025. This change in funding would occur overnight. Sharyn, at the time of receiving this advice, had 180 places offered to support students in the individual support, early childhood and ageing support industries.

You have to step back for a minute and think about what is actually happening here. Each year, under this program, NIET provided qualified, job-ready graduates to disability services, child care and aged-care facilities across my electorate. It equally provides high-quality skilled people in hospitality and tourism—the stuff the Mornington Peninsula thrives on. But overnight the Victorian government had made this business unviable. Why? Because a broke Victorian government wanted to pass the buck to the Commonwealth, citing the illusion of free TAFE.

What does this mean for the peninsula? It means the loss of hundreds of urgently needed staff. What does it mean for NIET and for local employment in Frankston? NIET has to lay off six permanent and 15 casual staff. This move, literally on the eve of Christmas last year, threw NIET's students into limbo, and two weeks notice was given. NIET tried to facilitate transition to the nearby TAFE, but it was already at capacity. Students accustomed to small, tailored and flexible classes at NIET were told that TAFE class sizes were capped at 17 to 20 per group, with classes held three days a week—always during business hours—with two days being taught online, even though they are local students and learning to care for disabled and elderly people, which is a hands-on, face-to-face, practical role.

When I met with Sharyn in December, she was bereft. Her team were struggling to hold back tears as they spoke to me about what this might mean for their students. NIET is a family place where middle-aged women, in particular, returning to education and training after raising children or getting back on their feet after a separation have found peace, purpose and a sense of family.

Sharyn and her team were desperately trying to find a way to work with their students to get them to qualify before she had to exit the NIET premises. Over Christmas, Sharyn and her colleagues developed a plan for those students. She needs to find a replacement tenant for the premises on which NIET has a five-year lease, so she's going to operate for the next six months. She'll run at a loss to do this to make sure that her students get to finish their qualification. Their only alternative was to do nothing until the end of April and then try and enrol in TAFE in its next incoming cohort, on 29 April. Six months from now, the Mornington Peninsula will have lost the potential for hundreds of graduates that would have been picked up by so many businesses in desperate need of quality staff.

There is currently a waiting list of 6,000 individuals for care packages in Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula. NIET has over time been a reliable supplier of high-quality and job-ready aged-care staff to Australian Unity in Mornington and AutumnCare in Frankston and Mornington and provides ongoing training to around 250 disability support workers employed by Focus Individualised Support Services, who are based in Mornington at the Coolstores.

NIET also provides ongoing medications training to PCAs in aged-care centres and to disability support workers. Sharyn's employers often comment on her students. They stand out during placement because they've been taught the soft skills of communication and to be proactive and person centred carers. They've also got confidence in using equipment such as lifting machines and in giving dignity to clients when providing personal care such as showering and toileting. Many students they get from other training organisations haven't used any of this equipment before, and NIET students have had to teach them on the job.

There are aged-care facilities on the Mornington Peninsula which cannot operate at full capacity at the moment because they lack the qualified aged-care workers they need. Sharyn told me of people in similar positions to her who have had to do some of the hardest months of their life over the Christmas break, reconciling with the debt and the administration left to them by this overnight change from the Victorian government and the skills deficit their communities will be confronted with, all while listening to Labor cry 'fee-free TAFE', which, by the way, was never free. Just the materials at the nearby TAFE were more experience than what NIET was charging many of its students. Indeed, the students who looked to transfer to TAFE under NIET when it lost its Victorian government funding found they were all going to have to pay $460 at the fee-free TAFE, whereas at NIET, at their actual course, it was free because it had been subsidised under this Victorian government program now abolished.

When you look at the performance of TAFE under this government, it is a good idea to look at some facts. TAFE numbers are lower than they were under the coalition. In fact, the year the Albanese government introduced free TAFE, 2023, was also the year that saw nearly record-low enrolments—since 2020. I'm not here to condemn TAFE as an institution in any way. I love TAFE. I was once a TAFE student. I have the most extraordinary, high-potential TAFE in Rosebud, in my electorate. It's the only tertiary institution we have, even though technically we're meant to be metropolitan Melbourne. It's just that no-one has invested in it for years, so our young people tend to be drawn towards the shiny new facilities in Frankston or, worse, up the freeway in the city to take up the 'university, university, university' pressure that their peers, parents and, indeed, this government constantly puts on their shoulders.

Since being elected, I have been in constant contact with our local TAFE and vocational education providers. I set up a hospitality roundtable which is now maintained and sustained by the sector itself. Chisholm TAFE, local employers, employment agencies, the private RTOs and the shire: we all get together and talk about what is needed to keep our kids learning and working on the peninsula. But it always comes back to the same issue—the lack of state government funded public transport. There's no point to a TAFE down the road in the industrial estate in Rosebud if no-one can get there.

They also raised concerns about attitudes to trades and trades training even though Flinders is a trading hotspot. We have the second highest number of trade professions of any electorate in the country. You can't blame tradies for wanting to be on the Mornington Peninsula. It's paradise. A vibrant, skills based tertiary system is what will sustain Australia's economy in the 21st century. There is enormous demand for skills in construction, the care economy and agriculture. We need to train as many people as possible and provide the best public policy settings to ensure that most people can get the education to meet the country's needs.

But the answer is not one-size-fits-all TAFE; it's in choice and flexibility. This chamber may need some reminding about the coalition's commitment to vocational education. I had the honour of working with Brendan Nelson when he was education minister in 2004, which some of you with long memories will know was the year of the 'trades election'. I had been Nelson's vocational education adviser since the year prior, and I was laser focused on how to increase uptake in trade training and how to make apprentices and trainees feel appreciated by the Australian population, valued, recognised and respected for their choice. Our commitments to vocational education at the 2004 election were based in the heart of liberal values. In his speech to formally launch the Liberal Party's campaign in September 2004, John Howard said:

There's a golden thread that runs through so many Coalition policies and that is that great principle of choice. Greater choice for families to choose how they will balance their work and their family responsibilities. Greater choice for entrepreneurial Australians to start and expand their small business. Greater choice and opportunity for young Australians to develop their talents to the full. And importantly, greater choice for Australian parents to decide how and where their children will be educated.

Does that sound familiar? It should.

Further in that speech, John Howard went on to describe what the coalition's policy on vocational education was going to be. He reflected:

Australia is facing a national skills shortage in traditional trades such as carpenters, welders, auto-electricians, motor mechanics, brick layers, chefs and hairdressers. This is in part a product of our great economic success. It's also the legacy of some bad decisions we made a generation or more ago. This country made a big mistake 30 or 40 years ago when it turned its back on the old system of having technical skills.

He went on to talk about the importance of those technical skills and then to announce a raft of policies to address the skills deficit we were facing. He talked about our drive to tackle skills shortages and to revolutionise vocational education and training. He announced the 24 Australian technical colleges that we would establish to accelerate national skills development in traditional trades. He talked about where they would be located, from Darwin to Northern Tasmania, Adelaide, Perth and here in Queensland. May I say, two of those survived their de-creation, or their abolition—should I call it that?—by the Rudd government, and they're both in Adelaide. They're run by the Catholic Education Office, and they're great. He announced the introduction of Commonwealth scholarships for new apprentices in priority trades after their first and second year of apprenticeship. He announced an intention to extend youth allowance to apprentices, putting them on the same footing as university students. He also announced $100 million to build an Australian network of industry careers advisers to make sure that, when students went to advisers to ask what they might do in the future, trades were kept front and centre.

At the end, he said:

We must do more to encourage them—

young people—

to entrench that culture, and to bring on more—

apprentices—

That's why I'm especially pleased to announce a series of measures at furthering entrenching the enterprise culture within this country.

The Prime Minister went on.

I know these measures like the back of my hand because I'm the bunny who wrote that policy for the 2004 election. It was the election when you'd see John Howard walking around, quite often with a hammer in his hand, just to constantly reinforce the message: 'We appreciate your choice of an Australian trade qualification. We need you to choose more, and we need to back you in.' That's what a Peter Dutton government will do if given the chance—back in the trades and get us back on track.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's always lovely to listen to the member for Flinders. I'm actually very fond of the member for Flinders. I don't want to jinx you. I don't want to jinx you on your side. This is not a doxing. But I've actually used you as an example in a conversation that I put on the public record only last week. The fact that you're on the backbench after such an accomplished speech, a professional woman who has actually been interested in public policy, and people like the chap here are on the frontbench says everything that's wrong about the modern Liberal Party—when someone of your intellect and contribution over decades is sitting up there. But, anyway, there you go.

Thank you—he called me a loser. Thanks. We'll put that on the record too. It says more about you than me. But it is surreal, isn't it? At least that was a reasoned contribution. Most of it had nothing to do with the Free TAFE Bill; it was about the Victorian government. Most of it was to do with state government policies on the trading sector, but there you go. But using a reasonable voice doesn't make reason from nonsense. We've had speaker after speaker from the opposition, from the Liberal and National parties, at least coming clean about the choice, or one aspect of the choice, that Australians will face at the coming election—the Liberals will cut free TAFE, and this Labor government will invest in free TAFE. This bill means that free TAFE is here to stay.

It's a cost-of-living policy to lower the cost and lower the barriers, particularly for kids from the suburbs and regions like the place I represent in outer south-east Melbourne, to actually access skills and training and provide that pathway into good, well-paid, secure, skilled jobs. But it's also smart economic policy. It is an investment in skills to drive our economic growth. It's critical. It's good for the economy. It's good for wages. It's good for employment. It's good for Australians. And it also reduces reliance on migration. It's not rocket science that if you train more Australians and you don't do what they did over their wasted decade of decay and dysfunction, cutting billions from TAFE and the training and apprenticeships system, if you actually invest in training and skilling Australians, you reduce reliance on migration. That's what I'm up for. I'm up for giving Australians in the suburbs and the regions a chance at a good, well-paid job by removing those barriers to them pursuing careers.

One of the things about free TAFE is that it allows governments to incentivise students to choose the courses in the areas of skill shortage that the economy needs. Last week, I was at Chisholm TAFE, which has campuses in Dandenong and Berwick in my electorate. It's absolutely fantastic talking to the free TAFE students in nursing, in manufacturing and in construction related trades, actually getting a start. So it's a cost-of-living measure and an economic measure. For nursing, health care, construction, energy and technology, it provides pathways to good, secure jobs.

It has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians already. I think the latest data was that around 568,000 Australians in just 21 months have accessed free TAFE. That's just in the first 21 months. And it is a partnership with the state and territories. It's not some doctrine from Canberra. This legislation makes free TAFE permanent and sets up the policy architecture where then we negotiate individual partnerships with each state and territory that adapt to the training system and adapt to what local industry and business and the economy need, as it should be.

I'd encourage the opposition to actually look at the evidence and support the bill, but I'm not holding my breath. Every now and again, Deputy Speaker Buchholz, you know those moments—you've been here a while—someone says something in the chamber or around the building that makes your head spin, and you go: 'What? Did she just say that?' That was the Deputy Leader of the Opposition last year. She dropped the mask on free TAFE. She said:

And remember this, and it's a key principle and tenet of the Liberal Party: if you don't pay for something, you don't value it.

Well, she belled the cat on that one. It actually showed who they really are. When you take away all the nonsense language about aspiration they like to parade, they're there for those who already have the most wealth in the country, and they hate universal services. That's been a consistent threat for decades with the Liberal and National parties. They don't believe in aspiration and particularly supporting kids from lower socioeconomic circumstances, be it in the regions or the outer suburbs, to get a start in life, to get skilled, to get training and to get into well-paid jobs.

If you take that Liberal philosophy of 'If you don't pay for something, you don't value it,' it actually starts to make sense of their world view and other things. What if you take that to school education? 'If you don't pay for it, you don't value it.' I think most parents in Australia have a different view. What about firefighters? If you take that philosophy, if you want the firefighters to come and put out a fire at your house, why don't you pay for it? Otherwise, you don't value it. What about lifeguards at the beach, emergency departments in hospitals or GPs?

It was when the current Leader of the Opposition, Mr Dutton, was health minister—you might remember that he was voted the worst health minister in 40 years by the doctors—he implemented that philosophy, the one that they still espouse today, of 'If you don't pay for it, you don't value it.' He literally tried to destroy Medicare bulk-billing entirely by introducing a charge for every Australian to see the doctor. It wasn't just an accident policy. It wasn't a budget measure. It was what they fundamentally believe. The Liberal and National parties' history is to fight against universal services. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was the Labor Party that fought election after election to try and introduce Medicare. They don't like this, but this is the history of your party. You fought election after election, opposing Medicare, opposing—

Well, it's history. It's there. Malcolm Fraser abolished the first version of Medicare, and then you went to election after election with John Howard and Andrew Peacock and John Howard until you finally learnt the lesson that you can't win an election in this country without at least pretending to support Medicare. It's the same philosophy. That's what they believe: if you don't pay for it, you don't value it. We have a different view about universal services, and free TAFE is part of that. It's good for the economy and it's a cost-of-living measure.

The other thing they've said about free TAFE is that it's 'wasteful spending.' There's an important clue here. One of the great mysteries that erupted outside this chamber last week is when the Leader of the Opposition said, We're going to make giant cuts to public services, but we're not going to tell you what they are until after the election.' 'Giant cuts, but we're keeping them a secret.' It's gaslighting the Australian people. It's trolling the Australian people. Never before in the history of our Westminster democracy has the alternative government been so disrespectful of Australians that they're actually saying, 'We're not going to tell you what we're going to do after the election; we're just going to make cuts.' That is $315 billion of secret cuts, 'but we'll tell you after the election.'

Of course, that's only the tip of the iceberg because they've got to find $600 billion to pay for their risky nuclear reactor fantasy, and goodness knows how much the long lunches are going to cost—somewhere between $1.6 billion and $10 billion. It depends on how many people go out and take the full $20,000 tax deduction on the taxpayer so Australian taxpayers will be paying for their bosses' long lunches. You can apparently go to lunch by yourself at the golf club and have a $10,000 lunch, and that's okay, but they don't support free TAFE. So it's an important clue. Skilling Australians is wasteful spending, according to the Liberal Party, but you've got to cut free TAFE to pay for your boss's long lunch.

The government has a different vision. Skills and TAFE are critical for the economy, for Australia's future and, as I said, for cost-of-living help right now. Let's put a couple of numbers on the record. Thousands of dollars are being saved by Australians right now from free TAFE. A student in Victoria studying the diploma of nursing can save up to $17,700. That's an enormous amount. We need more nurses. I want to see Australian nurses trained, as I said, so we can rely less on overseas skilled migration. If we want to see Australian nurses trained, this is a cost of living measure that incentivises it. Early childhood certificate III in South Australia—we need skilled early childhood workers. You're a paediatrician, Deputy Speaker Freelander; one of the smartest investments we can make in our future economic wealth is investing in good early childhood training. That is $4,400 saved, and that incentivises students into that. A certificate of agriculture in Queensland can save $5,250. In the ACT, cybersecurity—we have a massive cybersecurity workforce shortage in this country—can save $3½ thousand.

But at least the opposition is consistent; I'll give them that. They have been consistent this term in opposing cost-of-living help, because it's not just free TAFE; they opposed the tax cuts, spoke against—we were going to have an election, apparently, last year. They called for an election so that people could have a say on Labor's tax cuts for every taxpayer. They opposed cheaper medicines. They opposed the $300 energy rebate for every household. They opposed the caps on wholesale gas prices. They opposed cheaper child care—more wasteful spending, according to the opposition. They oppose free TAFE. In fact, along with free TAFE, if they'd had their way over the last 2½ years, every Australian household would be $7,200 worse off. That's the sum total of them saying no, no, no, no, no to every cost-of-living measure that the government has put forward. But it's also consistent with their record in government in that wasted decade of decay, dysfunction and division. There were 22 energy policies. It ripped to bits three prime ministers. The Liberals presided in that decade over the second biggest skills shortage of any developed country in the OECD, and yet, despite all of the noise and the rhetoric, they still failed to land a national agreement with the states and territories to build Australia's skill base. There was an absolute crisis in skills, construction and trades—a 50 per cent shortage of workers—and they still failed to land an agreement with any of the states and territories. Worse than that: they actually cut $3 billion from the VET system and TAFE when they were in government.

But I dare the Leader of the Opposition, who must be skulking around the building, watching on TV, walking past or having staff keep up with what's going on, to come in here and say the word 'TAFE'. The Leader of the Opposition, the purported alternative prime minister of the country, has no policies. Well, he does have policies: they're for giant cuts, but he won't tell you where or what, so he's got a secret policy. He hasn't said the word 'TAFE'. He has not uttered the word TAFE in this chamber, in this parliament, for 21 years. He could come in here and say TAFE today. Nothing bad is going to happen. It's not scary. Millions of Australians go to TAFE. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition at least says TAFE. She calls it 'wasteful spending'. But, there you go, the Liberals don't respect our public TAFEs.

There is a kind of stereotype. I want to sort of puncture the illusion here. The stereotype is that the Liberals are all for private and that Labor are all for TAFE. That is not my view. I'll put it on the record. I think TAFE is the backbone of our training system. I'm not ashamed to say it. It does the heavy lifting. It invests in the heavy capital courses that the private sector will not invest in. It's a market failure if you think that the private sector is going to do all of that. That's just a fact. It's TAFE that invests in the regions, in particular. It's absolutely critical for access and equity, for outer metropolitan areas and for the regions. Private providers are not springing up overwhelmingly in those areas. TAFE is critical. It is the backbone of the training sector.

The private sector is also important, but it's part of the ecosystem that hangs around the backbone. The Liberals have a fundamentally different philosophy. They don't respect the TAFE system. They don't respect public TAFEs. They don't understand the value or importance of TAFEs in our local communities. They've shown time after time with flawed reforms that they will go for cheap and fast training over a well-supported and trusted VET sector with TAFE at the heart. The Minister for Industry and Science is sitting here and nodding furiously.

TAFE is the core of the training sector. That shouldn't be a controversial proposition. Saying that is not anti every private provider. There are some fantastic private providers that innovate. They can be more nimble in responding at times to industry or business training needs, but they don't invest in the regions, the outer suburbs and those critical, high-value courses for the economy that might have high capital costs. That's what TAFE does, and it's important.

So I say unashamedly that TAFEs are valued and trusted public institutions. They're trusted partners in our communities. They lead in innovating teaching and learning practices. They support students in succeeding and assist industries in developing skilled workforces. There's a TAFE in nearly every community across Australia, and every community across Australia deserves access to great vocational education and training.

I really encourage at least a few members of the opposition to use their brains, do the right thing and support the government's bill. I'm not holding my breath. They have this bizarre ideological opposition to universal services. They have this stated opposition to the concept of free TAFE. Well, we have a different view, and it's one part of the very clear choice that Australians will have at the election. They have opposed every single cost-of-living measure that the government has put forward—no, no, no, no. Well, this government believes in training. We believe in skilling Australians. It's good for the economy. It's good for people's wallets and household budgets. It's a choice. I back free TAFE.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to clarify a few things at the beginning of this contribution. TAFEs are state owned and operated. This is a very slippery slope that we get ourselves on in this federal parliament, where we see the failings of state governments and think that we better do something here in Canberra and end up owning the whole kit and caboodle, if you like. It's happened across a whole range of government services, which are provided by the states but are significantly funded by the federal parliament, and, of course, we lose control. While the federal government of the day wears the responsibility for raising taxes, in the end, the money is granted to the states, and we have—

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Grey is entitled to be heard in silence.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They could probably both learn a bit. Where there's the responsibility of raising finance at one level of government, the money is just basically given to the states to spend on whatever operation they are running. I think that's poor governance in many ways.

Most of what I have to say relates to the South Australian experience because that is what I am most familiar with. I have many friends who have given up a significant portion of their lives to work and operate in the TAFE section as lecturers and training providers and have really believed in TAFE. Almost all of them have eventually left, very disillusioned with TAFE in South Australia and mystified as to why it has been driven into the ground and why it has consequently failed, largely.

In 2018 in South Australia, there was a review that was ordered by the federal regulator and conducted by the Nous Group. It found that there were major problems with no less than 16 courses that TAFE in South Australia were offering. The review criticised the heavy funding cuts that had been delivered by, listen to this, the Labor government under Jay Weatherill. It said that TAFE had lost sight of the importance of quality. If confidence was already low in South Australia, that just smashed it. In many ways, it really spelt the demise of TAFE. Smaller facilities were closed completely; larger ones in many places were largely decommissioned.

There was a fellow called Jack Velthuizen in Whyalla, a significant Whyalla identity. I don't think he'll mind me quoting him in this area. He voted Labor all his life. I got on well with Jack. We understood each other. We knew how we each voted, but we both believed in Whyalla and in people. Jack was on the tools at the plant for much of his life, and he then ended up being a TAFE lecturer and was very proud of the metal workshops that were in TAFE at the time. In the end, they were idle, and he was beside himself with despair at what had happened. Jack went on to become president of the Whyalla Football League, a position he held at the time of his demise when he passed away in 2021, which is a fair indication of his commitment to community. I miss him. He was a good fellow. But, anyway, he had become very disillusioned with the whole direction of TAFE. Of course, the problem was that these places had become deserted.

I'd benefited at some level from TAFE training at some time. I think I did my first chem certs through TAFE, but I also did a tree-pruning course. I'm given to reflect that, in many places, they were delivering yoga instructor and dog handler courses and all that kind of thing. Honestly, if you want a business training enterprise, it needs to be focused on being a business training enterprise and getting on with the hard things in life.

In many ways, I think that TAFE lost its way. The consequence of that, of course, was that industry had no confidence. I just heard the member for Bruce speaking about how people trusts TAFE. Well, I'm here to tell the parliament that they don't—certainly not in South Australia. I speak to people in industry about people coming to them with their qualifications and seeking work. When they saw that they'd done their training, their apprenticeship or whatever through TAFE, they basically didn't trust it. They'd say, 'That means they won't be able to operate this, that and everything else, and I'll have to train them from scratch again.' I have used this phrase: who ever failed a TAFE course? That tells you about the quality that is actually offered here in the end. I was speaking only recently to an acquaintance who did a 12-month TAFE course and didn't attend and received high marks in their exam. They passed the course, yet they'd barely attended.

That tells you why the public and industry don't trust TAFE, and it tells us why, then, industry fled to the private sector for training. It's more flexible. It provides services when, where and how you need them. TAFE, by comparison, is a government organisation. The people that work there are public servants and it's heavily unionised. Consequently, it is just inflexible. Trying to get training courses delivered when it suits your workforce rather than when it suits the workforce at the training facility is one of the reasons they've been left behind. So industry have established their own training platforms. I live in Kimba, and just down the road from me, at Cleve—a distance of 100 kilometres or so—the Motor Trade Association have developed a regional training facility for country based mechanics. It's fantastic for the kids on the Eyre Peninsula and further afield that now don't have to go to the city and can access their training out in the country. Master Builders and the Housing Industry Association of Australia have their own training platforms and credentials that the industry trust and that they have designed for their use. This move for free TAFE undermines their efforts and investment, and it's dangerous. It is a move by this government to prop up failed state enterprises, and, as I said, we're on the sticky paper.

And there is no budgeted provision for this expansion of free TAFE. How on earth can that happen? We have a whole raft of government policies now, including housing, the forgiveness—the write off—of HECS debts and extra investment in the NBN, all apparently not costing the budget a cent. These are billions and billions and billions of dollars that the federal government is committing itself to that magically don't appear in the budget papers. It makes a mockery of the Treasurer's claims that this government has delivered two surplus budgets. If that is the case, why is the net debt of the Australian government now higher than before the surplus budgets? It defies any logic at all, and it is an attempt by the government to pull the wool over the eyes of the Australian public. It will be exposed. In the coming months and the coming weeks, there will be increased scrutiny of the government's claims.

This is, in fact, an attempt to nationalise the training and skills industry. It undermines the investment of the housing industry, of the motor trades and of private providers like Career Employment Group, which are a very significant contributor in my electorate to actually piloting people through their training and through their apprenticeships, and they've got to compete with free. And the industry doesn't trust the credentials. I think it's a broken glass that can't be mended. Denita Wawn from Master Builders Australia has said that it unfairly distorts the market, and it does not bring more people to industry.

The challenge is quality. Can TAFE rebuild that? I think it's pretty unlikely on the basis of the current dropout rate. The non-completion rate of free courses at TAFE is 87 per cent. That's telling us something. So far, the government has spent $1.5 billion on free TAFE, and there are 80,000 fewer apprenticeships and trainees today than when they came to office. That's a 20 per cent drop. For women, it's worse. The commencement stats have halved under this government.

So now the government is doubling down and trying to entice apprentices and trainees back into the system—back into a training facility that industry does not trust. I think this is bad government, quite frankly. I think it's undermining the investment and effort of others to build a system that they trust and that they rely on. Unbelievably, the government has not done any work on actually assessing the impact of the free TAFE policies that they've implemented so far, and they are pushing even further. This reeks of a captain's call, and, when captains make bad calls, the ship sinks.

Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government is investing in young Aussies to give them the skills that they need, because we know that a strong vocational education and training sector is absolutely critical to ensuring that young Australians, certainly from the beautiful place that I represent in the Northern Territory—that young Territorians—get a secure, well paid job that fills the need in industry and throughout our society. What do we do? The Albanese Labor government is investing in the skills the Territory needs and that Australia needs by making fee-free TAFE permanent for young Territorians, for young Australians around the country and for those that just want to retrain, try something different or start another career. Not only is this helping to relieve cost-of-living pressures for those seeking to skill up or re-skill but it's also absolutely vital to building the Territory's future and to building our nation's future. The Albanese government is committed to investing in the skills that Australia needs to drive the economic growth that we need. Labor will leave no-one behind and hold no-one back as our economy transitions into the future. Our fee-free TAFE offerings span those high-priority areas, including health, construction, early childhood education, hospitality and tourism, and renewable energy.

With unemployment so low, having young Aussies skilled up in these areas is absolutely critical. We need more people on the tools and less people sitting around at home with nothing to do. We've still got four per cent unemployment. We'd like to see everyone have an opportunity at getting a good job. It's a critical measure for reducing economic barriers and for addressing intergenerational disadvantage around the country but particularly, when I think about intergenerational disadvantage, in the Territory. Over 800 students from priority cohorts, such as those on low incomes, First Nations students and women who want to have a go non-traditional industries, have already enrolled under fee-free TAFE because it helps by taking away that financial barrier. Ongoing free TAFE will offer greater certainty to students, to employers and to industry, as well as to the state and territory governments.

The Free TAFE Bill 2024 will establish ongoing cost-of-living relief by removing those financial barriers to education and training that I mentioned, particularly for groups that typically experience economic disadvantage. The bill also ensures that fee-free TAFE continues to deliver a coordinated response to those workforce shortages that we all know. We see them in some industries that are certainly local but also national priorities, and we'll help build the pipeline of skilled workers that Australia needs now and into the future. Labor's providing cost-of-living support for more Australians to access high-quality, affordable training through the measures that we've put in place, delivering the skills and training needed to grow the economy, building the extra homes that we need, creating a future made in Australia, ensuring all Australians can get quality care as they age—and, when they need care, through a good health system—and building the capabilities, which are increasingly technical in nature, that our Australian Defence Force needs.

As co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of AUKUS, I speak to many stakeholders involved in the national endeavour that is AUKUS with our partners in the US and the UK. I know that we need young Australians with the skills required to deliver AUKUS. It's not just going to happen automatically. We need a pipeline of skilled young Australians. Our fee-free TAFE will deliver these skills that we desperately need to build this massive workforce.

Last year the member for Spence and I visited the team at BAE in his electorate in South Australia and spoke to some of the young apprentices there. What really hit home for me was that these young Australians are delivering our future ADF capabilities. Up in my electorate, in the Territory, we are training and developing a workforce that is equipped with practical skills essential for not only a growing defence sector but also the net zero transformation that our nation has embarked upon.

I acknowledge the work of Professor Suresh Thennadil and his team at REMHART, down at East Arm in Darwin. We plan to develop a renewable energy centre of excellence at CDU that brings together CDU, industry and unions, such as the Electrical Trades Union, in a powerful collaboration—pardon the pun there, Deputy Speaker Freelander—to drive skilled jobs across the Territory. One thing the Territory has got is a lot of space and a lot of sunshine, so we are going to convert that Territory sunshine into electrons for the renewable energy that we'll need to power an increasing industrial footprint on the ground in the Northern Territory. Working with industry and working with Charles Darwin University, we will make that a reality.

This is absolutely vital to transform the Territory into a clean energy powerhouse and to provide projects like SunCable with the skilled Territorians that they need to deliver renewable energy for Australia and the world, such as our partners in Indo-Pacific nations like Singapore.

The reality is you can't have a strong VET sector without strong public TAFE at its heart, and the Labor government will never consider that free TAFE is, to quote the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, 'wasteful spending'. Someone who calls fee-free TAFE 'wasteful spending' is obviously from a background of significant means and doesn't understand the transformational power of education and trade training for young Australians—in particular, those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Those opposite obviously haven't picked up that our government is tackling the cost of living robustly every day. By the way, every time we've put in a measure to help Australians with the cost of living, those opposite have voted against it.

Young people doing an apprenticeship, doing some trade training, can often find it difficult to make ends meet. I'll put a quick add-in for parents or grandparents who are listening. If your children or grandchildren are interested in doing a trade, know that we are backing them. The federal Labor Albanese government is backing your sons and daughters, in that we'll be giving some additional financial assistance to apprentices as they go through their training, after six months, 12 months, 18 months et cetera, to help with those cost-of-living challenges. We know that we have a responsibility to help people here and now, and, by making free TAFE permanent through this bill, we are reducing the barriers. By giving additional financial assistance to those doing an apprenticeship, we're making it easier for apprentices to make ends meet and to make that investment in their education and training so that they can manage the cost of living whilst they study and get those vital skills that our economy needs.

We do owe a duty to the next generation of Australians—to our kids and, later, the grandkids coming through—to build an economy in this nation that liberates their talents and rewards their efforts. That starts with education for all, with the three days of early education and then universal primary and secondary school education. There is university, with HECS debts cut by 20 per cent—as people get into the workforce, helping them again with the cost of living. Through the whole cycle of education in this nation, it's only federal Labor that has a plan and that is legislating to assist Australians through their journey of learning the new skills that we need in our economy. It's the economy that benefits, as well as the individual, our families and our communities. It's education for all. Australians, no matter what their background or financial situation, should have equal access to education. That's our mantra and what we strongly believe in. No-one is held back; no-one's left behind.

Time and time again, I've seen education delivering a future for young Territorians, whether it's through catching up with Clontarf or the STARS program up in the NT, and seeing what some added assistance and mentoring does for those young Territorians. Staying in school longer, getting a trade and going into higher education or into the workforce is absolutely vital.

Federal Labor believes in equal opportunity. By making TAFE free we are removing those financial barriers that I've mentioned. We will ensure that everyone has a chance to pursue a career that they love and to achieve their potential. As we've heard from previous speakers, this is not something that we have newly embarked upon. Supporting vocational education and training and TAFE is in federal Labor's DNA. We're reversing the damage of a decade under those opposite and we're rebuilding our TAFEs for communities across Australia.

Labor made the landmark $30 billion five-year National Skills Agreement with the states and territories, lifting investment in skills across Australia, alongside our government's growing investment in fee-free TAFE. We are going after the dodgy providers so that quality providers can do their work properly. The Albanese government has tightened up regulations, set up a tip-off line and increased funding to the independent regulator. This is directly leading to the exposure and deregistration of fraudulent providers. It only takes a few bad apples to bring a sector into disrepute, but it takes a genuine national partnership to support our great TAFEs.

What have those opposite ever done to support TAFEs? Australians know that those opposite, given half a chance, will cut TAFE again. We've heard it from their very mouths just recently. The Liberals—those opposite—do not respect our public TAFEs. They don't understand or value the importance of strong TAFEs in our local communities. Our government is investing in young Australians to give them the skills that they need. A strong vocational education and training sector is absolutely critical to ensuring that Territorians and Australians around the country get a secure, well-paid job. This is critical to building the Territory's future.

There is a clear choice at this election. Peter Dutton and the Liberals will cut free TAFE and Australians will end up paying more for TAFE, but, under our government, the Albanese government, free TAFE is here to stay.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On election night I spoke about the historic mission of Labor governments: opening the doors of opportunity and then widening them. There's nowhere where that's more important than in vocational education and training. That is what this legislation does. It enshrines free TAFE as a permanent feature of our vocational education and training system. I'm very proud that no government has done more to rescue TAFE than we have, let's be frank. We have been working with state and territory governments across the board to provide the opportunity for young Australians to get the skills that they need but also to benefit workers retraining for new jobs and new industries with new skills. But the other things that free TAFE does aren't just benefiting an individual. We've created Jobs and Skills Australia to identify, with private sector involvement, what the skill sets that will be needed are, not just in a year but in five, 10 or 15 years time. Free TAFE is targeted at areas of skills shortage, both blue-collar and white-collar, such as electrical, construction and new industries such as information technology and the adoption of robotics and artificial intelligence, as well as the care sector—people working in early childhood education and working in aged care.

We benefit employers and we benefit the whole economy. This is one of the key mechanisms that we have to boost productivity in this country. What this legislation does is take the success that free TAFE has been and say: 'We want to enshrine it. We want it to be permanent.' We, of course, have now had something in the order of 600,000 Australians who have benefited from free TAFE, and I've met many of them.

On Friday, I was at Swinburne TAFE with Minister Giles, with Matt Gregg, the local candidate for Deakin, and with Gabriel Ng, the candidate that we have for the electorate of Menzies. Most importantly, I met one young Australian who had been doing his law degree—and he's still doing it—but decided halfway through his law degree that he'd rather build stuff. He's going into carpentry and getting that satisfaction. We were there in a structure that was being built, and he was proudly speaking about joinery and the skills that he had.

I do want to give another shout-out as well—not just to the students. One of the things I have found from going into TAFEs from the time when I was the Labor shadow minister for employment, services and training—many years ago now—is that, for many older workers, they are so proud to go into the local TAFE and to impart their knowledge and skills as electricians, as plumbers and gasfitters or as carpenters onto a new generation of Australians.

That's why we, as a government, are backing them in. We know that education is the most powerful weapon that we have against disadvantage and it is the best investment we can make in building Australia's future, because every challenge that we have to meet, every opportunity which is there to be seized, depends on investing in the skills and capacity of the Australian people, whether it's the tradies to build and plan the homes we need, the electricians and mechanics to deliver the clean energy to take us to net zero, the healthcare workers to look after our families, the aged-care workers and disability carers bringing security and dignity into the lives of our loved ones or the technology workers to help Australia succeed in a new era of digital transformation. In every field of national endeavour, so many of the jobs our nation needs to grow our economy, strengthen our society and compete and succeed in the world start at TAFE.

That's why one of our first priorities on coming to government was to put public TAFE back at the centre of vocational education and training, back where it belongs. There are many private vocational education and training providers who do a fantastic job, a great job, who specialise in a particular area and impart skills to Australians. But we know from the mess that was the migration system that we inherited that many of them simply aren't up to scratch.

One of those things that we know about public TAFE is that, without exception, there's no-one by definition who goes to a public TAFE who says, 'Oh, I was ripped off,' 'It was just about profiteering' or 'I didn't get proper training.' We know that public TAFE is so important. Of course the private sector has an important role to play as well, but, if you don't have a public TAFE system that is effective, then the system simply won't be able to deliver what is needed for our economy.

Now, I do note that the shadow minister, when speaking against this legislation, posed the question: what does it actually look like in the real world? Well, I'll tell you what it looks like in the real world. It looks like 35,000 Australians enrolling in construction courses. It looks like the carpentry students I have met everywhere, including in Adelaide. There are 35,000 studying early education. Katrina, from Swinburne TAFE, also in Melbourne, enrolled in a free certificate III course as a pathway to primary teaching because, in her words, 'Free TAFE came out and I thought: "Why not do it? I've got nothing to lose."' There are 50,000 people training in digital technology and 130,000, who I have met in TAFEs from Tasmania to South Australia to New South Wales to Queensland to WA, engaged in aged care and disability care.

That's what free TAFE looks like in the real world: aspiration in action, people aspiring to a better life for themselves but also aspiring to that sense of achievement when you can look at a new house that you have been a part of building, when you can look after an older Australian and know that you have given them dignity and respect in their later years, when you are a teacher who's managed to take a young Australian and help to shape their future and to educate them. That's what it looks like: hundreds of thousands of people training for a new career, whether they're young people or older workers training for a new opportunity.

Now, of these free TAFE places, it's important to note that one out of every three has been taken up in regional communities, and that is so important as well. To quote Chad, who I met as he was training to find a new job in the mining industry at Thornlie TAFE in Perth, where I visited along with the Premier, Roger Cook: 'I thought it was a great way to get my foot in the door. I'd say you should definitely have a crack.' Indeed, all over Australia, that is what our people are doing: backing themselves, getting the skills they need for a job that they want, not being held back by costs, not being left behind because they are unable to find a place. They are people being lifted up by public TAFE, and our economy and businesses are benefiting from a more skilled and a more productive workforce.

It is worth emphasising the connection between what TAFE delivers and our economic growth and our future, because a decade of cuts to TAFE and apprenticeships didn't just deprive people of the chance to train and retrain; it also inflicted on Australia the most severe skills shortage in 50 years. That's what we inherited. And skills shortages have an impact on the supply chain and then feed inflation. Indeed, they put petrol on inflation. That weakens our economic resilience, puts cost pressures on business and slows down key projects. And that's why it amazes me that the Liberal Party and the National Party are still saying that free TAFE is wasteful spending and a sugar hit. It's not a sugar hit and it's not wasteful. I'll tell you what's a waste. A waste is losing the potential of a young Australian to be trained for the jobs that they need. A waste is someone who needs to retrain for a new opportunity in life being denied that opportunity. There is waste of time and opportunity when housing and energy projects can't get underway because of skills shortages. There is waste when businesses have to look overseas, instead of Australians being trained and ready here at home.

When we look at our migration system, I want our first priority, and I make no apology for this, to be the training of Australians. That should be our starting point. But so many businesses are so desperate for skilled workers that they have to look overseas.

With this legislation, we understand that TAFE needs to be viewed as a component of the tertiary education system that is just as important as the university sector. Whether it's TAFE or university, we value both and we invest in both, and we want both to be affordable and accessible to all Australians, which is why we are also, of course, importantly, abolishing so much student debt. Three billion dollars of student debt has already been abolished, and we'll abolish 20 per cent of student debt if we are elected.

In announcing that the coalition would vote against this bill, the shadow minister said:

And remember this, and it's a key principle and tenet of the Liberal Party: if you don't pay for something, you don't value it.

That was a very clear, unequivocal statement from not just the shadow minister but the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, there explaining in just one sentence why the opposition are opposed to free TAFE and why, when the Leader of the Opposition was the health minister, they sought to impose a tax every time someone visited a GP or every time someone went to a public hospital emergency department.

That they don't value Australians is the real issue. Australians do value TAFE. They do value Medicare. They do value things that help to make their life better, and that is what this legislation does. I say this: as long as there is a Labor government, free TAFE is here to stay. I commend the bill to the House.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say to the Prime Minister as he's leaving the chamber: what about private VET training? Why is he not making private VET training free? If you are that concerned about VET training, make that free as well, Prime Minister. Rather than just choosing free TAFE, make private VET training free as well.

The reality is that I, as one of 151 members in this House, am probably more qualified to talk about TAFE than anyone else here. That's because I've completed four courses through TAFE, from certificate I, certificate II and certificate III to diploma level. I've completed those all through TAFE. I would not suspect any other member to have done so.

I don't support free TAFE. I think it is a bad policy. With the Free TAFE Bill 2024, what we're getting here from the Prime Minister and those opposite is them choosing one sector of VET training—a sector that they think benefits them, because of union membership. That's the reality. As I said before, my experience with TAFE when I first left school was doing a certificate in hospitality and training, back when silver service—

Government Member:

A government member interjecting

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I paid for TAFE, by the way—I say to the assistant minister, who is walking out the door. I actually paid for it—no problem at all—and I didn't come from a wealthy family or anything like that. In fact, my father only went to grade 5. He finished school when he was 10, but he went on to own his first home in his 20s. So I say to those opposite: I think I am qualified to talk about TAFE.

Generally, my experience there was good. I've got no problem with TAFE. What I have a problem with is the government picking and choosing winners and giving financial outcomes because of their union membership. Because TAFE is purely within the public sector, it tends to have more union membership.

And to the minister opposite, who's seen a 14 per cent reduction in manufacturing—I don't know who the hell you think you are to talk and want to interject—a 14 per cent reduction—

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! This is not a two-way conversation.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, get onto him then. I'll wait for your order.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Petrie is entitled to be heard in silence, please. Thank you.

I'll get back to my experience. I did hospitality training back when silver service—for those people that might have gone to restaurants back in the late eighties and early nineties—was a big thing. I trained at the Bracken Ridge TAFE, which is still operating today within my electorate of Petrie. That's where I did my first training, before I went on to a career in sales and so forth. I then did a Diploma of Business through TAFE because I always wanted to run my own business, like my father. I did that Diploma of Business up at the Caboolture TAFE, which no longer exists. It's outside my electorate; it's in Longman. I'm not sure what is there now. It was part of the North Point training, and I also finished it down in Bracken Ridge. I want to thank the lecturers that gave me that training. It was good. After a successful career in wholesale sales, I went on to run my own business in the pest control industry, and then I went to TAFE to do a certificate III as well, so I've had quite a bit of training within the TAFE system. I want to give a shout-out to the Redcliffe TAFE and the Bracken Ridge TAFE, within the electorate of Petrie, for the work those trainers do there. I also want to give a shout-out to the Australian Trade College North Brisbane, which has remarkable trade training at Scarborough, within my electorate. It's one of the few trade training colleges where you can go to school—in grades 10, 11 and 12—and actually do an apprenticeship while you're training, and they're getting some fantastic outcomes. The former Prime Minister visited that trade training centre before the last election and gave it some recognition, which it rightly deserves.

Labor have been on the 'Save TAFE' and free-TAFE bandwagon for the best part of 20 years. As I said the other day, when I'm dead and buried in 100 years, they'll still be talking about saving TAFE, free TAFE, saving Medicare—these are the parrot lines that they roll out every election. Let me give you an example. The former Labor member Yvette D'Ath, who I defeated in 2013, slid into the state parliament at a by-election and, in 2015, went into that state election as the member for Redcliffe and said: 'We've got to save TAFE. We're saving TAFE.' That's what she went into that election on. Two years later, in 2017, she said: 'Good news: the Palaszczuk government has saved TAFE. We've saved it. It's been completely saved in Redcliffe.' But then, at the 2019 federal election, Corinne Mulholland, the candidate that ran against me—who's now sliding into the Senate ticket, I believe—came out and said, 'We've got to save TAFE.' Can you believe the rhetoric of the Labor party?

The member behind me gets it. So we've got a state MP in Redcliffe, entirely within the federal seat of Petrie, who was a former federal member for Petrie, saying, 'We've got to save TAFE,' in 2015 and, in 2017, 'We've completely saved it. It's brilliant. Thank you to the Palaszczuk government.' And then a Labor candidate in 2019 that had a seven per cent swing against her at that election said, 'We must save TAFE, and only Bill Shorten and that will be able to do it.' This is the hypocrisy of the Labor Party.

If they were that serious about saving TAFE and making it free, what have they done in the last three years? We've seen a massive skills shortage. The reality is that more trade training and funding for apprenticeships was done under the last government than ever before. We had an entire scheme under the former coalition government called Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements, where we actually paid half the wages of every builder, plumber and carpenter in the country. That's the reality. At the moment, it's clear that we are in a cost-of-living crisis. It's clear that we don't have enough tradies, due to the 600,000 migrants that this government is bringing in each year. This picking and choosing is the big problem that we have with this government. Because TAFE is somehow in the public sector and has unionised jobs, their donors say, 'Well, you must support the public sector; you must support free TAFE.' The deputy leader of the Liberal Party is right in the sense that having something free doesn't mean you value it more.

The reality is that people line up to go to university. If you look at the UQ or QUT campuses in Brisbane or even the USC campuses in the Leader of the Opposition's seat, you do pay to go to university. The government pays part of it, 80 per cent or so, roughly—depending on the course, it might be 40 to 60 per cent—and then the rest is HECS. There's no reason why TAFE, which is generally a cheaper course because it can go anywhere from six or 12 months to a maximum two years, couldn't have a small co-contribution like HECS does. If they were serious about giving everything for free, they would make the private sector free for VET as well. Those are the facts.

The reality too is that, as Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services in the previous government, I know the previous governments were spending about 80 per cent of VET training on TAFE but only getting 20 per cent of the outcomes, and the private sector was getting 20 per cent of federal funding and delivering 80 per cent of the outcomes. Under the Albanese Labor government, do you know how many people are completing the free TAFE courses? The deputy leader is right when she says that people say that if it's free they don't value it. There's a 13 per cent completion rate for free TAFE. The ministers opposite get up and say, 'We need a bit longer, another 12 months, to see if it improves.' Well, let's say we triple it to 39 per cent. Do you still think that's acceptable with the amount of money?

The reality is that this plan from Labor is a shambles, like most of what they have delivered over the last term of government. The coalition believe the VET sector is very important. I'm a product of it. It's very important. We encourage people to get into carpentry, building, plumbing, electrical and other trades, whether it's hairdressing—whatever it might be. We think that is very important. We will continue to make sure that VET is funded well, but we're not going to give all of the money to free TAFE. We'll also make sure that the private VET sector receives funding as well, and that's very important.

The government has a problem with anything to do with the private sector, because it's not just TAFE and those private VET providers. If you look at the Leader of the House, when he was in charge of workplace relations one of the things he did was destroy the NESM, the new employment service model, for people wanting to help train people on the dole—JobSeeker, as it's called—and that industry is completely struggling. He took away all the mutual obligations for people on JobSeeker to actually get some training and to enrol in different courses. He took away all of that. The government and many opposite have an ideologically opposed position to the private sector. That is what we're seeing here with the bill, and that is why we are opposed to the it; 80 per cent of the jobs are in the private sector. Whilst a lot of trainers are very good, I have heard from builders and carpenters that some of the students that have just come out of TAFE haven't actually had good training. That's not at every TAFE but at some of them. And the private sector training, which this government will pretty well give very, very little to, is often better training.

Like most of the government's policies, this only sounds good, but the devil is in the detail. It's $1½ billion of taxpayer money—it's your money, people in my electorate—for a 13 per cent completion rate through TAFE; a significant decrease in the number of apprenticeships; and no increase in total VET enrolments. That is important. The Prime Minister talks about a skills shortage, so how's that no increase going to help the country? They're doing free TAFE, absolutely ripping the guts out of the private VET sector, and there's no increase in total VET enrolments. This is an election ploy from a desperate government that has Australians in a cost-of-living crisis, with rents through the roof, mortgages through the roof and electricity prices up by 50 per cent—doubled for most businesses.

Australians deserve choice, and free TAFE denies everyday Australians choice. When a student chooses a university degree, they also get to choose the university that suits them. Maybe they make a choice because of the lecturers or the reputation and location of the uni, but the important thing is that they have a choice. Free TAFE has robbed tens of thousands of Australians of that choice. The Albanese government has created a significant social disadvantage and entrenched marginalisation with free TAFE. Not everyone has easy access to a TAFE college, and many regional towns don't have a TAFE college at all. Free TAFE makes the cost of living and housing affordability worse. Free TAFE means fewer apprentices, fewer houses and more expensive trade services due to a lower supply of qualified tradespeople. The two largest costs when building are the wages to the workers and the materials. When we don't train enough apprentices, because this government ideologically opposes VET training in the private sector, the cost of available workers goes up, putting upward pressure on prices.

The Albanese government has presided over the collapse of the skills and training college, not the former coalition government. As I said before, we had half the wages paid for every apprenticeship in the country. It's their government that has a 13 per cent completion rate. This destruction of the skills pipeline will only get worse year on year on year on year without diversifying and resourcing the skills supply system across the board. When we don't train enough apprentices in any given year, we have to train double the following year to make up the shortfall and to build the numbers required in the following year. The problem with free TAFE is that, unlike private RTOs, who are paid only on completion—private sector VET RTOs are paid only on completion—TAFE are paid regardless of whether they produce an outcome or not. That's how they want to spend your money. So this money we need this year to catch up is already spent. This delivers very poor value for Australia. This is a bad policy from a bad government and the coalition won't be supporting it.

Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am incredibly proud to rise today in support of free TAFE and the Free TAFE Bill, which is before the parliament at the moment. I was in a taxi recently, and I did what I often do as a litmus test. I asked the taxidriver what he knows about the Labor government, the Albanese Labor government. I asked: what good thing does he know has come from this government? Before hesitating, without even thinking, he said to me, 'Free TAFE.' It was in his consciousness, and that taxidriver knew that this was a good thing, that people in his taxi talked about it and it is something that this government is delivering. This bill is about opportunity. It's about equality. It's about ambition. It's about building a stronger Australia, one where education is accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford it. We know that education is the foundation of a strong economy. Over the next decade, nine in 10 new jobs will require post-secondary education and half of them will require vocational education and training. That means we need a strong, well-funded TAFE system.

We in the Albanese Labor government strongly believe in uplifting Australia's workforce through TAFE. We believe in public education and giving people the skills they need to succeed, to leave intergenerational poverty, to have opportunity. It sounds corny, I know, but so many people have said to me it means they can reach for their dreams. We believe in backing our world-class TAFEs to train the workforce of the future. That side, as we heard from the previous speaker, only believes in the private sector. But this bill does so much more than offer someone a profit. It cements the Albanese Labor government's commitment to free TAFE, making it a permanent feature in Australia's education system. It locks in funding and ensures that states and territories can continue to deliver the skills training we so desperately need. The bill underpins our government's commitment to funding at least 100,000 free TAFE places a year from 2027. I'd like to commend the previous minister for skills and training, Brendan O'Connor, and of course the current minister, Andrew Giles, for leading this incredibly important initiative. These initiatives are in contrast to what the coalition oversaw in their term of government—a VET sector that was thrown into neglect and fracture, one that led Australia into its biggest skills shortage in 50 years and the second-biggest skills shortage in the OECD. The cost of not investing in TAFE is too high. If we don't, businesses will struggle to find skilled workers. Essential industries like health care, construction, early childhood education and care, and clean energy will face crippling staff shortages, and too many Australians will be locked out of the training they need to build a better life for themselves and their families.

Australians deserve opportunities, and they deserve to dream. I know what education has meant for me. Deputy Speaker, given how spritely I look, it might surprise you to know I've had other careers before politics.

Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No!

Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know; it's hard to believe! But from the mid-eighties until the early 2000s, for almost two decades, I worked as a nurse. Nursing isn't just a job. It's a career that enables you to make a real difference—a difference that often means saving people's lives. Nurses have been and always will be the backbone of our healthcare system. I had the great opportunity of becoming a nurse through free education, because when I was in my early 20s you could train to become a nurse through the vocational educational system. I was a sole parent and went back to train after my twins were only seven weeks old. There is no way that I could have done that as a sole parent if I wasn't in the vocational education system, getting paid to work and learn on the job.

Now of course nursing is taught in universities, and I'm proud to say that this government has recognised the difficulty that places on people financially and is funding paid clinical placements. But back in my day, there's no way I could have afforded to complete my training if it wasn't for the vocational education sector. Being a nurse as a woman meant I got to have my own career, my own money, my own agency and my own choices. I was able to raise four children. It set me up to have a whole career, rather than just a job. It enabled me to become a nurse educator with Austin Health. I was federal secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation, the President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, and now—I pinch myself every day—I'm the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health. The lessons I learned while training to be a nurse back in those early days informs my work to this very day. Nursing is a career I'd recommend to anyone—as long as you're not squeamish!

Right now, Australia needs more nurses. In fact, we're facing unprecedented demand for nurses and aged-care workers. Our aging population is growing, and with it the need for a compassionate, skilled workforce who can provide high-quality care to those who have spent their lives building this country as well. By 2050 we will need over 200,000 additional aged-care workers just to keep up with demand. Yet for too many people, the financial barriers to training in these fields have kept them from pursuing this rewarding work. That's why free TAFE is so important. It's not just an investment in individuals; it's an investment in the care of our most vulnerable people. Since its introduction more than 130,000 students have enrolled in courses to train as enrolled nurses, aged-care workers and early childhood educators. That's 130,000 more Australians who are stepping up to care for our most vulnerable people. I hope to see many more training for the care economy into the future, including the wonderful at Melbourne Polytechnic Preston in my own growing electorate of Cooper.

Let's be clear: this is also a woman's issue. The vast majority of workers in health care, aged care and early childhood education are women. When we invest in free TAFE, we are directly supporting women's economic security, helping them gain qualifications, secure well paid jobs and build financial independence. This bill is about ensuring that women, who make up a majority of our growing care workforce, are given opportunities and agency and are able to pursue their passions. It's not about living just for bread but also about living for the roses. This is exactly what free TAFE does. It allows working mums to upskill and re-enter the workforce without taking on student debt. It ensures young women looking for a career in health care or education aren't held back simply because they can't afford tuition fees. If we're serious about closing the gender pay gap, about giving women economic independence and about valuing the work that has been so often taken for granted, then we have to invest in these professions.

When I think about the opportunities that free TAFE can present for women, I think of a young woman in my electorate called Charlotte. Charlotte, unfortunately like too many Australians, spent much of her youth escaping with her mother and sisters from violence perpetrated by their father. She lived with trauma, poverty and fear. These experiences, tied with the global pandemic in her last few years of school, meant Charlotte really struggled to complete school. She didn't get the grades she wanted and, frankly, Charlotte really struggled to feel positively or motivated about her future. For years after school she struggled to retain secure work in hospitality or live on wages from casual and insecure work. Her mum forwent a lot to keep Charlotte afloat.

Charlotte's mental health and lack of formal education may have been a setback but they certainly couldn't define her. Growing up in a turbulent home showed Charlotte that life could be tough, but, while overcoming it all, Charlotte was also shown resilience, strength and care from her mum and within herself. Charlotte fought through trauma and mental health problems, learning the difference that can be made by having people around you who care. Charlotte now wants to replicate the care that was shown to her by her mum through all those years by pursuing a career in community services. In 2025, through free TAFE, Charlotte will do just that. Free TAFE for Charlotte is a second chance. It's a door opener. It's an opportunity maker. It's not insecure hours of work and pay; it's a fulfilling career.

There are so many others, like Charlotte, changing the trajectory of their lives through free TAFE. I am so proud of her, and I know her mum and her sisters are too. There are so many other stories about resilience and education. Like Charlotte, these people most definitely—I guarantee it—value their fee-free TAFE education.

Since the Albanese Labor government introduced fee-free TAFE, we've seen 508,000 enrolments in the first 18 months, 130,000 students training in the care sector, 35,000 people training in early childhood education, and almost 35,000 students training in construction. Priority cohorts have particularly benefited from the program. I'm proud that over 170,000 Australians, and over 124,000 jobseekers, have already enrolled in free TAFE. More than 60 per cent of places are being taken up by women, and one in three places are in regional Australia. These aren't just numbers; these are real people, like Charlotte, getting real qualifications and real trajectories, with real lives being changed.

It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the success that free TAFE has had because of the partnerships with our states and territories. They've coordinated the skills and training their future workforces need for their industries and they've ensured TAFE students are working towards a real job, not an empty qualification. Planning for future industries like clean energy, housing construction and the care economy relies on a secure and growing workforce. The states and territories know this only too well. The Free TAFE Bill is important because it commits the Commonwealth to ongoing support for free TAFE while allowing states to tailor their programs to local needs. This is how good government works—not through insecurity, not through cuts and not through neglect, but through collaboration and long-term investment.

We know that when the Liberals were last in government they cut $3 billion from the VET system and TAFE. We know that if the coalition had their way we would see these cuts replicated. Education inequality would widen, aspirations would be crushed, women entering the workforce would be inhibited and older workers needing to retrain would be locked out. This would mean housing, energy projects, and childcare and aged-care centres couldn't get off the ground because of skills shortages, and it would mean businesses would be forced to look overseas for workers instead of employing Australians right here at home. We know that the Leader of the Opposition hasn't even said the word 'TAFE' in this place since 2004 and we've heard time and again that the opposition consider this to be wasteful spending. We know all about how the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, speaking on this very bill, said:

… it's a key principle and tenet of the Liberal Party: if you don't pay for something, you don't value it.

Well, education is not wasteful. Investing in future industries is not wasteful, investing in future workforces is not wasteful and investing in people is not wasteful. Giving people, especially women, the tools they need to build a better life is not wasteful. If the Liberals had their way, they would cut funding to TAFE, reduce access to education and leave Australian businesses scrambling to find workers. Australians deserve uplifting. We cannot afford to let this happen again.

This bill is about opportunity, fairness and a stronger future for all Australians. It's about investing in our growing industries, like the care economy, clean energy and housing construction. It's about investing in individuals to afford more opportunities and to reach their dreams. It's about valuing female dominated industries and workers. It's about ensuring that, whether you are a young person looking for a new start, a mum trying to look after her kids and re-enter the workforce or a worker retraining for a new career, you have the opportunity to get the skills you need without being held back by the cost. That's why I proudly commend this bill to the House, and I urge those on the crossbench to do so too.

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a great pleasure not only to speak in this debate but to follow someone I regard highly, Assistant Minister Kearney, who rightly spoke of in particular skilling up people in roles that the community values, not the least of which being nurses, midwives and a lot of people that at our time of need provide us with critical support, and you want to make sure at that point in time you've got people that are skilled up to do so. We certainly believe as a government in the value of that, and I want to thank her for her service, especially in terms of advocating for more skills in this area and more support for our nurses in this country. I think it is important that we do so. And it's not just me; I think average Australians would around the country. We want to see more of that happen. We want to see more people trained up. We recognise the value of TAFE and vocational education in helping not just our economy and not just our country but the people that benefit from that training and the opportunities that it opens up for them.

Obviously I'm speaking in favour of the Free TAFE Bill 2024, because fee-free TAFE places will become a permanent feature in our vocational education and training system. It's a program that has made a huge difference to many people in Western Sydney, and we want to see that change locked in for good. As the son of a welder, I certainly know the value of learning a trade. My dad's skills kept a roof over our heads, food on the table and bills paid. His trade gave our family opportunity, and it gave him the chance to contribute to building the future of his adopted country, a country that welcomed him and allowed him to get to work. He got to work on some pretty big projects in his time. He speaks fondly of his ability to participate in the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme development. A lot of things have changed in Western Sydney since those days, but not the value of learning a trade. Today, having a trade continues to mean well-paid work for mums and dads and sons and daughters across our suburbs, bringing not just economic opportunity but the skills base our country needs to be able to build a really strong future for the rest of the nation.

I'll give you an example of how important that is in my community. Last year, I was invited to break ground on what would be the largest data centre campus in the Southern Hemisphere. A great Australian success story, CDC, is behind the project. It's being built in Marsden Park in the electorate that I'm very proud to represent. The numbers are truly staggering. It will be the size of 27 soccer fields, with state-of-the-art facilities hosting cloud, classical and high-end AI computing. It'll be the envy of the world, the beating heart of the Sydney Business Park that will create spin-off industries and support other businesses across the country. It's a project that will need about 10,000 skilled workers. A lot of them aren't just in IT. To build the thing, you need construction skills. You need sparkies, heating, cooling and ventilation trades, security workers and admin workers to keep something this big running. That's not counting the incredible opportunities of having this facility in our backyard. It will create thousands of more skilled work opportunities, well-paid work for thousands and thousands of families so they can get the best from the west and our unbeatable lifestyle.

Workers in Western Sydney are excited about the opportunities. Businesses in our region are absolutely crying out for skilled workers. It's one of the big things I get raised with me by industry. They want talented workers. This is across the board. It's not just in digital and tech, bearing in mind that we have an ambition as a nation; this government is committed to making sure we reach the target of 1.2 million Australians employed in tech related jobs by 2030. It's good for the country. It's good for businesses. It's good for those workers in particular. We see it in construction. We see it in manufacturing. We see that those areas need people. In construction, for example, it's estimated that we're about 90,000 workers short. We need people to build homes and build commercial premises across this great country of ours. Because of our fee-free TAFE program, there are 31,000 VET students just in the electorate of Chifley. There are more opportunities for families to get ahead and more skills for businesses who want to invest in the long-term future of the country.

A number of claims have been made in the course of this debate. The good thing about our democracy is that you get different sides putting different views forward. From time to time, I think that's very much a good thing, but you hope that we're doing this on the basis of facts and evidence. One of the things that have been an issue for many years is skill shortages. I just want to reflect on the contribution made by the member for Flinders, who referenced her work in this House, under the Howard government, to be able to provide skills packages. If you listened to that contribution, you would think, 'That's a pretty impressive piece of work. There are probably elements of it that people would welcome.'

Bear in mind that, by the point at which the Howard government announced that, there were these things that were referred to as capacity constraints in the economy. The two biggest ones, which had dragged on for years, were infrastructure bottlenecks because the federal coalition government didn't commit to infrastructure investment, and the other massive capacity constraint, which was reflected on by people from the RBA to economists to businesses, was skill shortages. Why? Because you had a federal coalition government under John Howard that was either at war with universities or wouldn't fund TAFE. He would not fund TAFE.

In the contribution by the member for Flinders, who I sat and listened to, she talked about setting up a separate stratum for training in technical colleges, quite distinct from TAFE. They would fund a rival TAFE. They did this quite often. They also set up, in schools, technical trade centres that we then had to support and adopt when we took office in 2007. But, again, it was about creating rival systems to those in the states—a wasteful, ideologically driven approach that didn't address the long-running problems that had been created in the economy and that got worse. The coalition government scrambled to put a package together, and that's what you saw. Those things weren't reflected on by the member for Flinders.

We then had the way-out-there contribution by the member for Petrie, who was in the chamber when we heard from the Prime Minister himself his positive reflections on the contribution of the private training sector.

What we're focusing on is TAFE, because, as most people think, if you're going to make an investment, where do you get the biggest bang for your buck? From our point of view, a publicly funded TAFE system that a lot of Australians are familiar with, supportive of and can get access to is probably the fastest way to do it. This is not an either/or situation. It is about maximising the value of taxpayer dollars by going in and supporting TAFE at the point at which it needs that support. At a time when we need more skills, what we're trying to do through fee-free TAFE places is attract people to take up a TAFE course. We want to see that backed. That is why we support it. Now what we have is a coalition opposing the idea that you would have fee-free TAFE places that would attract and train up the people we need to fill the skills shortage.

What's the alternative to this? It's to use a private system, which even those opposite recognise has challenges. When the coalition was in government, remember, the then minister, Simon Birmingham, had to undertake a massive reform program because that system was full of providers that we recognised were engaged in practices that were luring students in and were not delivering the training that they should, because they were dodgy providers.

That's not the case for all private providers, I emphasise, but even the coalition recognise that it needs to be reformed. This was done, again, when they refused to properly fund TAFE in their last time in office. They refused to back, at the appropriate point in time, skills agreements with the states and territories and starved TAFE of vital dollars. They did it in the Howard government and then they did in the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments as well, and they took their sweet time to reform private training, which then created other problems for other students.

Now, we recognise that there are some good private providers around. There absolutely are. What we're trying to do is, as I said, provide bang for the buck in making sure that we have a public TAFE system as central to our system, that we attract people in, train them up as quickly as we can and put them to work in an economy that needs those skills. This is not playing ideological games. It's about being practical, not ideological, as opposed to what the coalition does and as opposed to some of the way-out-there arguments that the member for Petrie put on the public record in his 'contribution' to this debate, just walking past all those problems that existed.

I also note that, while I do have a lot of time for the member for Wentworth, the member for Wentworth's big argument at the end of her contribution was: 'This is something that will happen down the track. Why are we doing this now?' I am left thinking, when we often get criticism in this country that governments don't think ahead enough, at a point where a government is thinking ahead, is giving certainty, is providing funding certainty, we should be putting this in place and we should be flagging a long-term mechanism to provide that support and ensure that people know that this will continue for a long time and that they can go into TAFE and do so. We will not go back to the old days. The member for Petrie said, 'Why don't we have TAFE students pay for their education?' That is what he advocated at the dispatch box. That is exactly what we are trying to avoid with this bill. It is to avoid people paying and to attract them in. That's the big difference.

I've said there is a contest of ideas. The contest of ideas here comes down to the coalition, which says that you will not value education if you don't pay for it. You need to send a price signal. You need to send a price signal, apparently, on health care as well. The Leader of the Opposition many times as health minister said the same thing. But then the same coalition that says we shouldn't be backing free TAFE, we shouldn't be backing free medicine and affordable healthcare, in the next breath can say, 'But we should fund lobster mornay, truffle oil and free lunches for employers.' Something does not gel when you make that argument. The country recognises the value of affordable health care and that they don't avoid getting health care because they can't afford it. The country also gets that we should be training people up at speed so we get those skills into the economy and into businesses that are always saying they want skills. Instead, we have a coalition that wants to play ideological games and stand in the way of those reforms.

If there's anything about the coalition that I may say positively, it's that they're consistent. They never support properly funding education. They never support making sure that people who may not have the means to fund themselves entirely throughout their education get some support to do so. We believe that, if you've got skills, your background and your parents' income should not be the determinant of whether or not you get educated. We want Australians from all corners of the country and all backgrounds to be able to step up and build a better country, and they should be skilled up and backed to do so. We should not have a situation where people feel that only education can be supported for those people that have the means and the wealth to do so. I reckon there are a lot of Australians who would agree with the sentiment that, if you've got the talent, we need to get you to the front and to make sure we put your skills to work. That's what we are trying to do.

We are trying to encourage people to go forward and pursue the skills they need and the talent they require for our economy and our country. That is why we support the Free TAFE Bill 2024. It's good for the country, it's good for the economy, and it's good for everyday Australians who want to get ahead and have an aspiration to do better in their lives. If we can make that happen, then that is a great thing for this nation.

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The best thing you can do to improve social upward mobility and economic security for a person is to ensure that they receive a good education. In the 21st century, an evermore technological and technical age, the average minimum level of education and skill attainment required to enter and remain in the workforce is steadily increasing. In fact, we see that nine in 10 jobs will need post-school study over the next 10 years and half of those jobs will require vocational education and training. Our government recognises and understands this, so the Albanese Labor government is making free TAFE permanent.

Fee-free TAFE has been an absolute game changer for thousands of people in my community and more than 70,000 people across Western Australia. In February last year, I had the opportunity to welcome the Prime Minister to the Thornleigh TAFE campus, which is part of the South Metropolitan TAFE, in my community, where students were learning the skills they need in robotics and autonomous operations to support WA's mining sector, the powerhouse of the nation. That day, the Prime Minister and I had the opportunity to chat about those students and find out what compelled them to go to TAFE. The feedback was overwhelming. The course was free. They had always wanted to study at TAFE; they saw the benefits of being able to get a TAFE qualification, but they wouldn't have been able to afford a career change or that qualification if they had had to pay the fees. Thanks to fee-free TAFE, they were able to gain the skills in the areas they had previously only dreamed of participating in, setting up themselves and their families for greater economic security and new jobs.

In just the first 21 months of fee-free TAFE, there have been 568,000 enrolments. Fee-free TAFE has created so many opportunities for people in the electorate that I represent, the people of Burt, in the south-eastern suburbs of Perth. Indeed, 27 per cent of the members of my community hold a TAFE qualification. It is the main type of qualification for people in my community to be able to progress into the workforce—the importance of being as accessible to as many people as possible cannot be underestimated.

At the Thornlie campus of TAFE, which is the largest TAFE campus in the south metro area, there's a focus on things like ICT but also on trades and jobs that support our mining sector, like engineering, autonomous control, remote operations and mechanics. At the Armadale campus, the courses reflect some of the leading industries and employers in our south-eastern suburbs: the care sector, early childhood education and community services. I was very pleased to recently attend the opening of the brand-new TAFE facility in the heart of Armadale, which expanded even more the offerings that TAFE provides in our community.

Training people for these in-demand jobs and not charging fees will not only change their lives but also change the lives of the individuals who benefit from those industries. Making free TAFE permanent will give certainty to young Australians and older Australians looking for a career change and help us bridge the skills gap. Indeed, when I was attending the opening of the new Armadale TAFE campus, I spoke to some young women there. I spoke to some mums looking to re-enter the workforce as their children were about to enter compulsory schooling. The observation was made that they were prioritising other things with their families' finances. They couldn't access TAFE if they had to pay a fee. However, making TAFE free would fit within their family budget and enable them to retrain and go on to new careers.

As I mentioned before, a lot of these training opportunities in my community go into the care economy, where we are seeing a shortage of people working in aged care and child care and people that we need in our Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital. Making sure we're bridging that skills gap by giving the opportunity for locals to train in those areas is incredibly important not just for them but for our entire community. When we came into government, Australia had its worst skills shortage in 50 years and the second worst across every advanced economy. It is vital that we secure free TAFE today and into the future.

The opposition has confirmed, though, that they will oppose this legislation to make free TAFE enduring. They believe, apparently, that it's 'wasteful spending', and they're opposed to the policy on the grounds that, if you don't pay for something, you don't value it. I can tell them that, from everyone I've spoken to who has studied at TAFE, who has gained a qualification from TAFE, they very much do value it and see the benefits but the fees have stood in the way of them being able to progress through TAFE.

Unfortunately, though, the opposition don't see the value in getting Australians trained up for the jobs of now and the jobs of the future. They don't see the value in giving Australians the credentials they need not only to get by but also to allow them and their families to thrive. It's in their record. The last time the Liberals were in government, they ripped $3 billion from TAFE and training over a decade of calculated, systemic neglect.

Between 2014 and 2019, they cut $220 million from trade support loans, $201 million from apprenticeship centres, $160 million from adult migrant English programs, $125 million from apprenticeship incentives and $75 million from industry skills funds. It's only the Albanese government that will protect and deliver free TAFE around the country. Somewhat more concerningly, the Liberals' opposition to free TAFE is as much driven by their hatred of TAFE merely because it is a state government run entity as it is by their lack of support for training of the workforce of the future.

In fact, it seems that, when we look at the policy positions being put forward by the opposition right now, they are against free TAFE but they're pro free lunches for bosses. They're for the bosses, but they're against the workers, the workers that we need to deliver the essential services here in Australia. We're all about supporting free enterprise and we want to see industry flourish—indeed, that's where we see jobs being created—but it's a very interesting dichotomy that they are creating over there, those people in the opposition that say, 'If it's free, you won't value it.' They want to create free lunches for bosses—I wonder how much they'll value that?—but they don't support fee-free TAFE.

I am pleased to be able to join with my colleagues across the parliament today to ensure that students in my community and, indeed, the businesses across the nation will now have certainty, a pipeline of career opportunities and skilled workers in areas where they need them most. This bill will support the delivery of at least 100,000 free TAFE places across Australia each year and into the future. That is what building Australia's future really looks like. The Albanese government's primary focus is, of course, to ease the cost-of-living pressures on Australians. It's a work in progress, but this free TAFE initiative is just one of those that we've introduced to help with hip-pocket pain.

When we came into government, inflation was high and rising, real wages were falling, living standards were declining and people were going backwards. We had one of the largest skills shortages that we had ever faced. Under the Albanese government, inflation is almost a third of what it was when we took office, and it's continuing to fall. Real wages are growing again, and living standards are rising. We've recorded the lowest unemployment rate for a government in 50 years and we've overseen the creation of 1.1 million jobs—the most jobs created on record in a single parliamentary term.

We know that Australians are doing it tough, which is why we're doing everything that we can to help deal with the cost of living. That's why we made sure every taxpayer got a tax cut and every household got energy bill relief. It's why people have access to cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, a stronger Medicare and free TAFE. It's why we'll cut student debt by 20 per cent. It's also why we've announced a $10,000 incentive payment for Australians in construction apprenticeships. Labor's plan for a future made in Australia is very clear. We want Australian workers to make more things here. That includes building more homes to not only support those who need homes now but make sure that our economy is best placed to thrive in the future. That's also what is behind our production tax credit legislation, which is currently before the other place. And, of course, one of our biggest nation-building endeavours, central to our national defence—AUKUS—requires hundreds and thousands of skilled workers in existing and new career opportunities.

Last week the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence joined the Minister for Skills and Training and the Western Australian Premier in Western Australia to launch the new centre of excellence for defence training at the naval base TAFE, as part of the South Metro TAFE. And we're seeing across our South Metro TAFEs new courses and the expansion of courses to support the work of AUKUS and shipbuilding in Western Australia, because, unlike those opposite, we on the Labor side in government, the Albanese government, have actually delivered on a continuous shipbuilding plan for Western Australia.

When we look at the work of sustainment that will occur as part of the AUKUS plans and when we look at the continuous shipbuilding plan that we've launched for Western Australia, it will see the creation of intergenerational jobs. We see it in other countries in their submarine depots. We see it where they build submarines. We see it in their other shipbuilding endeavours, where you have generation after generation after generation working in those jobs. It's the sort of job security that we thought did not exist in the 21st century but, when it comes to naval defence, does provide that sort of job certainty and career opportunity for generations to come. So we need to make sure that we're providing the opportunities for Australians to be trained in those careers to take up those jobs that are so important for them as individuals, for their families, for our community and, indeed, for our national security.

What this will mean, through sustainment, maintenance and continuous shipbuilding in Western Australia, is that that will become the second biggest industry in Western Australia. It will be the major employer. That is a huge leap. It's a huge leap for Western Australia, but it means something else for our national economy. You'll be familiar, Deputy Speaker, with the idea of complexity in the economy. When we talk about a future made in Australia—this is it. We will be building these ships in Australia, in Western Australia. We'll be maintaining these submarines in Western Australia. This is advanced manufacturing and technology. This requires the new skills that people will be able to obtain through TAFE. That's why TAFE is such a critical enabler to see the advancement of our national security, economic security, financial and economic security for individuals and families and in growing new businesses that will be supporting this endeavour as well. This all goes to underline why free TAFE is such an important economic measure here in Australia, to not just ensure that we're giving people that pipeline to access a higher education, to be able to secure their own and their family's economic security, but make sure we have the necessary skills that we need in our nation for the challenges, sustainability and prosperity of our country into the future.

The bill before us today will make free TAFE permanent. This will continue to relieve cost-of-living pressures by removing financial barriers to education and training for people, many of whom live in communities like mine. For these reasons—as somebody who has attended TAFE myself and had the benefit of being able to use that learning not only in a career before I'd finished university but all the way through, the learning that I was able to undertake at TAFE has provided me with great benefit—I very much commend this bill to the House.

Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot understand for the life of me why you would object to fee-free TAFE. It seems to me that the statement by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition that you don't value anything unless you pay for it makes absolutely no sense. What the Free TAFE Bill 2024 will provide is opportunity, and it will provide the workforce and the skills that this country needs. It will also mean that people who are from backgrounds that aren't flush with money will be able to access education at the TAFE level. That's what it actually means. I think it is mean-spirited and short-sighted to not support this bill. There is nothing to not support. I join with my colleagues here today in supporting this bill.

Education has been a running theme in my whole life. I was a school teacher, and I led the Aboriginal Education Consultative Group in New South Wales. I also was a board member of the Board of Vocational Education and Training in New South Wales and a board member of the accrediting authority in New South Wales for curriculum—the Board of Studies, as it was called back then. All of those positions give me a very thorough background in all aspects of education, from early childhood through to university. I well remember the work that I did on the Board of Vocational Education and Training around the VET sector, both private and public providers. I also understood that many people saw VET as a poor cousin to university. That is no longer the case in Australia. TAFE has come into its own. It provides courses that are varied, but, importantly, it also provides basic educational courses, and these are critical for people who are looking at second-chance education. My own son struggled with the HSC. He went back to TAFE and did the HSC qualifier again and did brilliantly. So I have a great deal to commend, and my family owes a great deal to TAFE.

Right now, it seems to me that this is one of the most exciting, far-reaching and equitable things that could possibly happen to the TAFE sector, and yet we have an opposition that says, 'You don't value anything if you don't pay for it.' This bill is about opportunity. This bill is about the future. This bill will provide opportunity and a future for thousands and thousands of people. The hundreds of thousands of people who are looking for second-chance education, like my son, are also seeing this as an opportunity and as an equitable measure as well. Children from families that are doing it tough—we talk about that a lot. We have in front of this parliament a bill that will provide precisely to those children of families that are doing it tough. And a cost-of-living measure, in many ways, is what this is. Yet, as I say, we have an opposition that cannot be generous enough, that cannot be forward-thinking enough, to see this bill in those terms. This will mean, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, a spoke in the wheel of that terrible cycle of poverty. It will change lives, it will change families, and it will change communities. Older adults who have never got the chance earlier in their lives will now have that chance. They will be able to adopt those economic changes. Each of them will be able to get ahead with a good education, if that's what people choose. The Labor government, through this bill of fee-free TAFE, is providing that opportunity.

This government believes TAFE is an essential part of the education system, not an add-on. Since coming to government, we have made the landmark $30 billion National Skills Agreement. The agreement included $214 million of investment to close the gap in educational outcomes for Indigenous people. We're going after dodgy providers, and, like the Minister for Skills and Training said, there are many good providers but there is nothing as broad, nothing as nationally significant and nothing as geographically spread as TAFE in Australia. There is nothing like it. That is why this will be the envy of the world. The investment in a country's future is what this is about—fee-free TAFE. In the first 20 months, there have been 568 enrolments. That's half a million enrolments. Those courses are providing a pathway to well-paid and secure employment for hundreds and thousands of people. How on earth could you object to that? How could you not see the value in that?

There are many stories that we have heard about people who were able to access TAFE and therefore save enough money to go on to university, to go on to better lives. The National Indigenous Australians Agency has highlighted that this policy is contributing to closing that stubborn gap. Fee-free TAFE is an important initiative to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's participation in VET by helping to overcome financial barriers. There are stories like Christy's—I think we've heard her story—who accessed fee-free TAFE and was able to go on to do a nursing degree. It will provide long-term cost-of-living relief by removing financial barriers to education and training. I have often heard in this House how education is the great equaliser. That is the way in which, if the opposition had any generosity of heart, they would see this. Yesterday, a member opposite joked about Labor's commitment to TAFE. Labor wouldn't need to be rebuilding TAFE every time we came to government if there hadn't been neglect by the Liberals. Facilities were run down, you cut $3 billion nationally from the VET system, and teacher numbers were left to dwindle. We all remember those days. All of this happened during major skills shortages in construction and the care economy.

I think it is not wasteful spending. I think it is an investment in this country's future. I think it is an investment in a system that has proven itself, and that's the TAFE system in New South Wales. I would say to those opposite: hundreds of thousands of TAFE students know the value of education. They know good education means a pathway to a good job, a well-paying job that gives them a future. Jobs and Skills Australia research has found TAFE and VET graduates boost their median income by almost $12,000 and are more likely to be employed after completing their qualification—by 15 per cent. Those figures are the real figures that need to be concentrated on.

The cost of living is biting many family budgets. Financial barriers often stop people from entering further education. This is about addressing that issue. This is about benefiting students right now while they build skills for the future—students like the ones we have heard about during this debate. Students in early childhood education are saving over $4,000 in South Australia and the Northern Territory. This is not small change. Free TAFE is taking pressure off Australians. It is breaking down the financial barriers stopping them from furthering their education. And it is helping to fill the skills gaps in our workforce.

This bill, to me, epitomises what the Labor Party is about. It is about providing opportunity. It is about thinking about the future. I commend the bill to the House.

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

Firstly, I would like to thank all the honourable members who have contributed to this debate about making free TAFE a permanent feature of our national VET system. Free TAFE is changing lives and delivering cost-of-living relief to hundreds of thousands of Australians, and that's why we're locking it into law, not cutting it.

Since free TAFE started in 2023, there have been close to 600,000 enrolments. Over 191,000 young Australians, 140,000 jobseekers and 34,000 First Nations Australians have enrolled in free TAFE. More than six in 10 places have been taken up by women, one in three in regional and remote Australia. We've had 39,000 enrol in construction courses, 40,000 in early education, 54,000 in digital technology and 150,000 in aged care and disability care. Tens of thousands of jobseekers are getting a fresh start. Hundreds of thousands of young people are training for a new career, and older workers are training for a new opportunity.

But these are not just numbers. Each one is a story of individuals and of families, a story about the joy of achievement and the satisfaction and reward of meaningful work. And it's a story about stronger, happier communities and a healthier, more diverse economy. Our investment sends a clear message to each and every person enrolled and anyone thinking about enrolling: 'We back you. We support your education. We support your aspiration. We won't cut it. We want you to get that qualification to help build the life you want.' Investment in free TAFE is not wasteful spending which needs to be cut, as we've heard members of the coalition say in this place. I can tell you that every free TAFE student I've met certainly values their education and the doors that it is opening—students like Caitlin, a Navy veteran and single mum here in Canberra. She told me she wanted to become a nurse but couldn't afford to study until the Albanese government made it free.

Free TAFE offers an ongoing, coordinated approach with states and territories to addressing the nation's skills shortages, which we inherited after a decade of inaction from the previous government. The Free TAFE Bill 2024 commits the Commonwealth to continuing support for at least 100,000 free TAFE places a year from 2027, bringing costs down so that more Australians can access high-quality, affordable training. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank states and territories for their critical role in ensuring the success of the current free TAFE program. This is a true partnership.

I welcome the discussion and debate that's occurred in the House and the broader community since my second reading speech. Many members have highlighted how free TAFE will build Australia's future and deliver ongoing benefits to their communities, to industry and to the economy. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, there have also been some disappointing contributions offered up by Liberal Party and National Party members, signalling that free TAFE is on their cuts agenda. The Liberals have made it clear they don't believe TAFE students are worth the investment. In fact, it appears to be Liberal policy that TAFE students don't deserve cost-of-living relief, but bosses going out for long lunch and karaoke need 20 grand a year.

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition said the quiet part out loud when she declared:

… it's a key principle and tenet of the Liberal Party: if you don't pay for something, you don't value it. So, if you're told that your TAFE is free and all you have to do is turn up … but you haven't paid for it, you don't see it as something that makes a difference to you in your life; you don't see it as something valuable.

Well, that is not true for Shereen, who told us that free TAFE had been life changing. It's not true for Kirsty and Cristy, who are doing their Diploma of Nursing qualification through free TAFE in Queensland. It's not true for Lachlan, who did his cert IV through free TAFE and represented Australia at the WorldSkills championships in France alongside 1,400 competitors from 70 other nations. It's not true for Caitlin and Giselle, who are doing their health qualifications through Canberra Institute of TAFE, and Kayla in WA, who is set up for a career for the next 20 to 30 years. All the students I have met and all the students that my Labor colleagues have spoken to across Australia, from Cairns to Cottesloe, Devonport to Darwin and everywhere in between, all value their studies and value the career opportunities that have opened up for them as a result. They value the TAFE teachers who have supported them and the fellow students that they've been learning with. So does Labor.

A central tenet of the Labor Party is no-one held back and no-one left behind. There's a stark difference between Labor and the Liberals on TAFE and public education. For Australians, there's a choice. The Liberals have made it clear that under them there will be no free TAFE. They will cut funding to free TAFE. Despite the claims of the member for Farrer and those opposite, free TAFE is funded. It's funded through the 2024-25 MYEFO with a commitment of $253.7 million for 1½ years from 2027 and $177 million each year after that. Labor is making free TAFE permanent. It provides cost-of-living relief. It removes the debt burden that students can carry over their course of their lifetimes. It gives Australians the opportunity to obtain meaningful, secure and well-paid jobs. It delivers on our commitment that no-one is held back and no-one is left behind. It is building Australia's future and creating a better life for Australians. That's what the Free TAFE Bill is all about, and that's why I commend the bill to the House.

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

The question is that the amendment be agreed to.

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

The question now is that the bill be read a second time.