Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Wong was the questioner at the time. Those figures are there for everyone to see, and I suggest that Senator Macdonald take his foot out of his mouth, go read the Hansard and then come back and apologise to all and sundry, if he so wishes. I believe his bitterness is at getting the back of the axe. I will not waste any more time on Senator Macdonald’s tirade—a waste of oxygen—and his carry-on. I understand he is still bitter, being the only minister to get the back of the axe last year.

Getting back to the bill, the last time I spoke on the issue of the Australian technical collegesin this place was to address a similar bill that sought to bring forward funding for these institutions—so this all sounds very familiar. I believe once again the government has stuffed up the funding of these colleges. It has botched the costings by the sound of things, despite what the explanatory memorandum might say to the contrary. It is the latest sorry chapter unfortunately in what is becoming a very sorry saga. As my colleague the member for Perth and shadow education minister has already said, we are facing an extremely serious national skills crisis. No-one would debate that and I understand that you, Mr Acting Deputy President Lightfoot, coming from that fine state of Western Australia with our V8 economy, would have great knowledge of the skills shortage.

This is not a crisis that has arisen overnight nor is it a crisis brought about by the boom-time conditions we see in the great Labor states of Western Australia and Queensland. Rather it is a crisis brought about by the policy failure of the Howard government. For a large number of the 11 long years of this government, they ignored technical and vocational education, ignored the screaming need for an increased contribution by the Commonwealth towards expanding the scope and quality of that sector and ignored the increasing skills crisis in this country.

It was not as if they did not have plenty of warning not only from this side of politics but also from institutions like the Reserve Bank of Australia and organisations none other than the Business Council of Australia. The RBA has pointed repeatedly to the skills crisis as one of the reasons for the upward pressure on inflation—too little skilled labour being chased by employers prepared to pay top rates. It is a simple case of supply and demand. But that has fed through to inflation and increased interest rates—unfortunately, another legacy of the Howard government since the last election. We should all be reminded that there have been four interest rate rises since the last election. The Business Council too has repeatedly warned about the skills crisis and the damage it is doing to the prosperity of the nation. In fact, in a report on waste and mismanagement in the federal system, it pointed to the vocational and technical education sector as a major example of unnecessary duplication. So the government has won no friends there with the system it has set up.

Back at the 2004 election it suddenly dawned on this government that there was a problem and there still is a problem—most importantly, the problem is being recognised in the community. It is never really a problem for this government unless there is the possibility that it might lose votes as a result. Never mind the national good; unfortunately, for this government its first priority is winning votes.

So what to do? It is quite simple: blame the states. The previous speaker is an expert at laying blame on the states. In fact, the rhetoric is becoming quite boring. Unfortunately, it is a tactic that is used by most government senators when debating any bill. They blame the states, ignore the vast contribution they make to fund this area of education and training and—guess what?—they set up a completely separate system. It would be a bit like building a completely separate road system, except this government would end up designing a cul-de-sac or a road to nowhere, or building a new hospital next door to an existing one run by a state health system and putting shiny federal government badges on it. You know what the critics would say? You would be able to hear them from here because they would be screaming from the roofs about the waste of taxpayers’ money and the duplication. Quite frankly, they would be right.

This is what they did with technical and further education: ignored the existing downward trend in federal funding of the existing TAFE structure and set up a parallel one. But, anyway, here we are with this system of Australian technical colleges. It is a farce and unfortunately an expensive one at that. It has already cost one minister his job. The samurai sword came out and was taken to that minister who was originally charged with implementing this ridiculously wasteful plan. If he takes out a minister for a ridiculous or wasteful plan, the Prime Minister better have an entire armoury of swords, I would suggest, because there could be a whole line-up on that side of the chamber.

One minister has been virtually beheaded, but the government cannot stop digging and now needs more money to cover another stuff-up with regard to costings. And speaking of digging holes, perhaps the answer for the Howard government is to appoint a minister for potholes to supervise the number of holes this government is digging for itself. I can imagine the wonderful photo opportunities for that around this great country: ministers in shiny white hard hats standing in urban or rural areas for photoshoots with marginal seat holders, with the ministers saying, ‘Worker, pass me the silver shovel for the photo opportunity. While you are at it, can you put some of that black runny hot stuff in it.’ I can see the worker in his orange vest saying, ‘Yeah, it’s called bitumen, bonehead.’

I want to point to some recent comments by the chief economist of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Western Australia, Mr John Nicolau, in a story by Andrew Burrell in the Australian Financial Review on Friday, 9 February. Mr Nicolau is reported as pointing out:

... that almost all of the 9,400 new jobs created in WA in January were—

guess what—

part-time, and that the participation rate of 67 per cent was still too low.

Fancy that: 9,400 workers in Western Australia were part time. Isn’t that a wonderful story! We do not hear the government banging on about the part-timers. They come out and espouse their credentials on employment, but they do not mention 9,400 workers who are part time. Imagine what the worker hears: ‘Sorry, mate; no annual leave; no sick leave; no carers leave. What? You want a paid public holiday? Sorry, bucko—you’re part-time.’ Then they go to the bank: ‘I want to borrow some money for a housing loan.’ ‘Mate, stiff bickies. You’re not a full-time employee. Come back when you’re a full-time employee.’ Wonderful! We do not hear them talking about that on the other side of the chamber.

So we have this government crowing about all the jobs it is creating and we have the minister saying what a good thing Australian Workplace Agreements are, but here we see the truth: almost all the jobs being created are part time. And that has come from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry—a lackey for the other side of the chamber. What can we do for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry?