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

Thanks, Senator Sheldon. As Senator Wong outlined today already, the Albanese government has taken a range of actions to assist Australians to deal with cost-of-living pressures—whether that is cheaper child care, cheaper medicine or the energy price relief that the opposition voted against. We've got the tax cuts coming in on 1 July. But another cost-of-living measure that we're taking is providing fee-free TAFE. I think that is one of the unsung heroes in terms of the cost-of-living relief that we've provided since coming to office. Fee-free TAFE means that students no longer will have big study related debts once they finish and, because courses are in areas of demand, they will go into long-term and secure work. We've seen a high uptake in nursing, early childhood education and care, community and individual care, electrotechnology, electrical cybersecurity and IT, to name just a few of the careers that people are taking up through those fee-free TAFE options. That's giving Australians access to education and providing the skills that we need.