Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Creating and retaining regional jobs are the most significant issues of our generation, which is why Labor is 100 per cent focused on ensuring that we meet this challenge. Employment of any kind should be safe and secure and should remunerate the individual such that they can improve their economic and social circumstances. TAFE, or vocational education, has a fundamental role to play in this space.

The alignment of education and training with industry-skills needs must occur. This synergy can only occur when employment trajectories are underway, in relation to sectors and subsectors and the skill profiles of the community, and access to education and training is available. It is essential that, to prepare the regional workforce for the jobs of the future, skill supply aligns with skill demand. Sadly, under this Morrison government, TAFE and regional jobs are under attack.

The Examiner newspaper in my home state of Tasmania revealed yesterday that TAFE Tasmania is under-resourced and under increased strain, as students have their courses cancelled mid-semester and staff continue to resign. Furthermore, a corporate plan released by the organisation notes that its infrastructure is below standard and there is no plan for investment, with the Liberals at a state and federal level committed to cuts. Then, today The Examiner revealed that it will be closing the Launceston city campus. It will now move to Alanvale, as the University of Tasmania is moving from there to Inveresk. When city campuses are booming and becoming the norm, the decision to relocate TasTAFE from the city to Alanvale seems totally illogical.

Because of the Liberals' cuts to TAFE, people are suffering needlessly. Students at TasTAFE have been forced to put their lives on hold, with courses being cancelled with no prior warning. Further to this, teachers are being worked to the bone and pushed into doing more classes because they are being forced to work with reduced resources, creating even more pressure on the institution. What have we heard from Mrs Archer, the Liberal member for Bass? Nothing. Why isn't Mrs Archer standing up for our TAFE campuses in Tasmania and, in particular, in her electorate of Bass?

The fact that information technology students were in the middle of a course and it was cancelled is extraordinary. It's an indictment on TAFE Tasmania under the Liberals. These students' lives have been put on hold, and they are under increased stress because of the government's decisions. One student said: 'I had to have some lengthy conversations with Centrelink. It caused some trouble because they didn't understand why I was still a student but wasn't going to classes.' A right-to-information request shows that between May 2017 and August 2019 10 teachers have resigned from TasTAFE employment. TasTAFE considers the bulk of its infrastructure to be below standard for modern vocational education and training.

This government talks big on vocational training and jobs, but instead of investing in TAFE and jobs it has gutted TAFE and training. The Liberals have cut over $3 billion from TAFE apprenticeships and vocational education. TAFE campuses have been closed, and jobs and vocational education courses have been lost under the Morrison government's watch, while government funding for private, for-profit operators has soared. What we have seen is the proliferation of unscrupulous operators looking to cash in by charging exorbitant fees for poor quality training. This has shattered employment opportunities and enrolments in TAFE. They have declined nearly 800,000 since 2015 to 680,000 in 2017. More should be done. But what have we heard from Mrs Archer in Bass? Nothing. What have we heard from the Liberal Senate team in Tasmania? Absolutely nothing. This government should hang its head in shame.

We need to educate young people and we need to educate the workers of the future with the skills that they need. Nothing could be more important to the Tasmanian economy. Nothing could be more important to the social fabric of our communities. So I'm calling on this government, particularly Mrs Archer, the federal member in Bass, to stand up for TAFE Tasmania, to stand up for the Launceston campus and to stand up to the Prime Minister and demand that funding is restored to TAFE so we can have the skills of the future that will be needed to provide the economy we need in Tasmania. (Time expired)