Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Free TAFE is helping train more carers to look after our loved ones, whether they be young or old. Over the past 18 months, the most enrolled free TAFE courses were in early childhood education, individual support and nursing. In fact, there have been over 130,000 new enrolments in aged-care and disability care courses. That's 130,000 Australians getting the skills they need for free because of the Albanese Labor government. We need to grow the next generation of high-quality health and aged-care workers, and removing cost barriers with free TAFE will continue to attract students into care industries which still need more workers.

For example, in Queensland, a student enrolled in a Diploma of Nursing course would save almost $16,000 under our free TAFE policy. Cristy is one of those students training at the Loganlea campus, and she says that free TAFE is:

… a 'huge help'. The financial support has allowed me to focus on my studies without worrying about tuition costs.

That's what free TAFE is doing for Australians. (Time expired)