Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

There are consequences of this attack on the role of vocational education in this country for the individual, for employers and for the nation. The individuals, the young people of these states, will not get the opportunity to gain skills which will lead to work. So, many of them will not get employment opportunities, because employers want skilled workers. Employers will not get skilled workers, because many of the young people will not receive the training they otherwise would have received. And the nation will suffer because our productivity will be restricted by the lack of skills in the economy. So there are three ways in which the nation will lose out as a result of these attacks on funding of TAFEs.

We have to make sure the states continue to invest, and the Commonwealth is not going to reward them for ripping money out of TAFEs, closing campuses and denying young people the chance to learn a skill or a trade that will allow them to have a better future. We are not going to put up with it, and the states are on notice.