Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For many of my constituents in Tangney, education is everything. It is the main reason why my wife and I migrated to Australia in 2002. We wanted to give our three children a world-class education. I am so proud I have also experienced Australia's greatest education system. I stand here speaking in English because in my 40s, after I migrated to Australia, I went to TAFE, and my wife and I both studied English. Later I decided I wanted to gain more skills, so I went back to TAFE, this time to study for the police entrance exam. TAFE is an important part of my story, and it is also an important part of the stories of many Australians, including those who attend Murdoch TAFE in my electorate of Tangney.

Since fee-free TAFE started in January 2023, there have been more than 500,000 enrolments. Now, with the Free TAFE Bill guaranteeing 100,000 free TAFE places every year, TAFE will be a part of many more people's success stories. Fee-free TAFE has changed the lives of so many people, providing cost-of-living relief and a pathway to well-paid and secure employment.

Education is one of the topics that come up most often when I'm doing my doorknocking in my community. Rossmoyne, Willetton and Applecross senior high schools are all in Tangney. All three of these schools rank in the top 10 schools in WA. I am so proud to be part of a Labor government that is making the biggest new investment in WA public schools by the Australian government ever. The more than 21,758 people in Tangney with HECS debts have already started to see their debts reduced, with the Albanese Labor government having fixed the student loan indexation formula. And there's more to come, with Labor's plan to cut all student debts by 20 per cent if the Albanese Labor government is re-elected.

A Tangney constituent of mine named Adam, who lives in Leeming, studied teaching because he wanted to make a positive impact in the community. As a new teacher, he told me that he's so stressed from having his HECS debt and that this deduction would help take the pressure off his mortgage. That's exactly what Labor is doing: taking pressure off the cost of living and ensuring our education system is better and fairer.