Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Again, Senator Lambie, I agree that our TAFE system has been starved of resources for far too long and that this is something that we need the current federal government to be committed to, which is exactly what we are. I might say, Senator Lambie, I have a personal interest in this now, having a year 11 son who's undertaking a school based apprenticeship in the construction trade. I want to make sure that he gets the same sort of opportunities that you're looking for kids in Tasmania to get when they're considering trade careers.

As I mentioned, our government is investing significantly in the VET and TAFE system. In fact, we're investing $921.7 million over five years from 2022-23 to strengthen our VET system and address skills shortages. That includes $864.6 million over five years to provide the fee-free TAFE places that I was talking about, as well as significant funding in infrastructure and technology to support our TAFEs.