Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I look forward to assessing Senator Birmingham's rolling campaign as it comes down the hill! I was trying to figure out what a rolling campaign could be. We have those old sayings: 'a rolling stone gathers no moss' and 'roll out the barrel'. There is 'rolling in it', which often refers to rolling in money. But I wonder if what we will have from this government is the joy of a press release one day and students rolling in debt the next. Let us see what this rolling campaign actually looks like.

We know that many students have been left vulnerable and exposed as a result of the failure to properly regulate the provision of training to young people. Labor has a strong record on investing in skills and helping students and workers to obtain the skills they need to participate and compete in the modern workforce, as well as introducing regulation and quality assurance. For over a year, Senator Birmingham has talked tough about action against unscrupulous RTOs, but the government have not done anything to stop the problems. Finally—