Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for the supplementary, Senator Ciccone, because it does articulate one of the policy challenges that the government at this time faces. We have to address cost-of-living challenges but we also have to do the work that was never done under the coalition, which is to set Australia up for a prosperous future.

By 2050, Australia will need a workforce where four out of five people have a TAFE or university qualification. If we don't achieve that, we will be poorer; we will be less productive than we otherwise would be. That is why, through fee-free TAFE, we are funding 500,000 courses in priority areas of care, defence, construction and manufacturing, to name a few, and doubling the number of university study hubs to help students in regions and outer suburbs—looking forward to the National Party being supportive of the Labor government's university study hubs! We are introducing prac payments to help nursing, teaching and social worker students and we are cutting HECS debts for more than three million Australians.