Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

are being levied an extra $30 million to fight the Labor Party campaign, because the unions have no confidence in the Labor Party administration, and well can I understand that. The workers of Australia are being levied these additional funds, not for their own benefit but to run a political campaign to get more union hacks like Senator Sterle into this parliament, and that is the sort of opposition we have here—an alternative government that is interested in unions and union bosses, not in the workers.

Again I emphasise that when we took power 12 per cent of the workers that the Labor Party is supposed to represent were unemployed. Under this government those unemployment figures have been slashed to a stage where we now have almost full employment. We have vacancies in every field because the economy is going gang busters. It is going gang busters because of the work of Peter Costello and this government in the last 10 years. That work has allowed us to pay off Labor’s $10 billion black hole and to pay off the debt of $96 billion that the Labor Party ran up when it was in government. To have the previous speaker come into this chamber and blame this government for slicing some programs in 1996 is just hypocrisy in its highest form.

As I said, this is a good news story, but all we get from the party for the unionist leaders is criticism, nitpicking and more criticism. If they looked at the facts, they would understand that the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2006 before us today demonstrates very clearly the success of the Australian technical colleges program and it reflects, as I say, the better than we even expected progress that has been achieved to date in implementing this Howard government initiative.

Twenty-four of the 25 Australian technical colleges have now been announced and 20 of these have already signed funding agreements with the government ensuring funding for their establishment and operations until the end of 2009. At least 21 of these colleges will be in operation during 2007 with a forecast of more than 2,000 students. This whole initiative has been implemented well ahead of the schedule which we announced in the 2004 election when we announced this initiative.

The Australian technical colleges have been embraced by communities and by employers in the industry in the regions where they have been established. I know in my own bailiwick, in North Queensland, the Australian technical colleges are doing very well. The college in Townsville was funded for 100 places. They already have 150 students enrolled and they have been funded for that. I certainly hope that the government will understand the fact that there are more people waiting for the Townsville ATC and I would hope that the department will seriously look at the request of the Townsville ATC for additional funds to take up that very significant demand in the community.

The Townsville Australian technical college is very well chaired by Mr John Bearne, with Mr Lawrie Martin as his deputy chairman. Their board of experienced people in the industry, who understand what is needed in Townsville, are doing an absolutely mighty job, as are the boards of ATCs right around the country. One of the reasons for this is that the boards guiding these Australian technical colleges are made up of local people in the industry who know the demand. No one Australian technical college in Australia will be the same as any other; they will all be different because they will have different focuses.

One of the very great successes of the Australian technical college program is demonstrated in Townsville where industry and employers are wholeheartedly in favour and supportive of what the ATC is doing. As I understand it, when a trainee comes into the ATC they have to have a mentor or an employer who can help them through and who can work with them. In Townsville, it is interesting that there are more employers wanting to help, assist and take on trainees than there are trainees. That demonstrates not only the success of the program but the fact that industry understands it, supports it, thinks it is a great idea and are prepared to vote with their feet when it comes to this college, by offering their services. So perhaps that is something unique to Townsville that is not there in other ATC areas, but we are very proud of the fact that there are more employers wanting to be involved than we have trainees. So it is a great program.

Other communities want to join the Australian technical colleges program. I was out at Mount Isa opening an employment expo that Centrelink and other government agencies had put on a few months ago. These employment expos, bringing job seekers and employers together, are a great initiative of the Minister for Human Services. It was a very significant event in Mount Isa, it was the first in Australia, as I understand it, and I was very proud to be able to open it on behalf of the minister. But one of the calls in Mount Isa was for their own ATC. That is not possible at the present time, but I do know that the Townsville ATC and others in government are looking at Mount Isa. I am not suggesting it will happen in the next six months, but clearly there is a call from places in regional Australia like Mount Isa, and those calls are being very seriously considered at the moment. I can well understand the demand in places like Mount Isa, with a local economy that is expanding very rapidly on the back of the Howard government’s good economic management, with the freeing-up of mining and the pursuit of expert opportunities for our metal processing areas. We will keep an eye on this. We will look to other communities that want these ATCs.

Previous speakers have made a lot of the TAFE system; it is a good system and it works well within the constraints imposed upon it by the state governments. State governments are indeed, I think, criminal in the lack of support and assistance they provide for training. I know, in my own state of Queensland, the Queensland government spend more money on spin doctors and on trying to keep themselves in power than on doing things on the ground. I know the Queensland TAFE system is underfunded and that is to the great shame of the Queensland government. When you consider the money that the Queensland government are getting from the GST, you would think they would be able to put a bit more money into the health system and into vocational training, but they do not do it. That perhaps is a good opportunity for me to remind the Senate that every single cent that is collected from the GST in Australia goes to state governments.

With the economy booming the way it is, GST collections are increasing accordingly and all that money is going to the states. The states are awash with money. They are not, though, awash with sensible management of the money when they receive it. I would certainly hope that at some time in the future we will have state governments who can be responsible with money and who will use the huge windfall gains they are getting from the GST for things like helping a bit more with their own technical and further education colleges. But I digress.

This bill before us increases the total funding for the ATC initiative from about $350 million to more than $450 million for the period from 2006 to 2009. I indicated the way that relates to the Townsville ATC, and that is being mirrored across the country. Strong industry and community support for the ATC program has meant that more colleges than originally anticipated will be opening in 2007. This has meant additional costs, hence this bill before the parliament. As I emphasised before, the ATC program is significant and forward thinking because each college has been encouraged to pursue a model that best meets the needs of the region in which it is established. It is again with some pride that I mention the success of the Australian technical college in Townsville and the way the local board has directed it so that it suits the local economy and has also brought on board many of the employers in the region to support the trainees in their work.

It is interesting to note that many colleges have identified the need for multiple campuses to ensure appropriate coverage of a region. There are a number of examples of this. The Hunter Australian technical college in the Newcastle-Maitland-Singleton region is looking at that. I know that in regional Australia, a part of Australia I am very passionate about, this idea of multiple campuses will be popular for Australian technical colleges. James Cook University in Townsville, the Central Queensland University and the University of Southern Queensland are regional universities with many campuses, and this has been very beneficial for them. James Cook has a major campus in both Townsville and Cairns and a campus in Mackay and in many other parts of Australia as well. It is doing particularly well.

I noticed the previous speaker was railing about this government’s cutting back of funding for universities. I do not know where he gets his statistics from. Since our government has been in place, James Cook University has expanded very considerably. I am delighted to say we have a medical school there, something that the previous Labor administration could never contemplate. So we now have rural young people, rural students, coming through rural and regional universities, becoming doctors and then, more likely than not, going back into the regions of Australia once they qualify. I am delighted with the results of the medical school at James Cook University, which is now turning out doctors. It does not seem all that long ago that the program started, but it is actually achieving results on the ground at this time. As the years go on, it will provide additional doctors, particularly for rural and regional Australia. But again I digress.

The Australian technical colleges bill before us is a good news story. It does put additional money into a very worthwhile program. It is something the minister and the government as a whole should be very proud of. I would certainly be surprised if any senator in this chamber would oppose the bill. They may criticise aspects for political reasons, because their union bosses tell them to, but it is a great program. It is a very significant program and it has achieved success even beyond the expectation of those who put it together. That is demonstrated by the need for this bill to provide additional funding for the Australian technical colleges program in the current financial year. (Time expired)