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

They are a bit noisy, President. Those opposite rotted our skills base, leaving Australia without the care industry workers, the chefs, the tradies, the hairdressers, the cybersecurity experts and, Senator Sterle, the truckies as well. They left us without all those skills that we needed.

Since coming to office, a key mission of our government has been to put TAFE back at the centre of the vocational education and training sector. We are also supporting more people to start their careers in construction to support our ambitious housing targets. Australia does need more houses. And for that we need more tradies. That's why this month we have confirmed our commitment to making housing a national priority under our landmark National Skills Agreement to support building 1.2 million new homes over the next five years.

Senator Cash asks how that's going. I will tell you how well that is going, Senator Cash. You could not negotiate a skills agreement with the states and territories while you were in government. We've now got one and it's delivering.

Honourable senators interjecting—