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

I thank Senator Urquhart, who I understand is a graduate of Devonport TAFE in the electorate of Braddon. What a fine product of the TAFE system she is. The Albanese Labor government is building Australia's future, including by ensuring Australians have the opportunity to gain the skills they need to get ahead for free. We're delivering free TAFE as part of our action to drive inflation down, lift wages up and create more jobs. In fact, the Albanese Labor government has now delivered free TAFE to almost 600,000 Australians. More than six in 10 places have been taken up by women and one in three in regional and remote Australia. We've had 39,000 people enrol in construction, 40,000 in early education, 54,000 in digital technology and 150,000 in aged care and disability care. Of course, that means huge savings for students.

Free TAFE is on the chopping block under Peter Dutton and the coalition. It's one of the $350 billion worth of cuts they've pledged if they win the next election. Why do they need such savage cuts? Of course, it's to pay for their plan to shout $10 billion worth of free lunches for bosses. Mr Dutton isn't content with his plan to cut workers' pay; now he wants workers to shout their bosses lunch. We finally know how much Mr Dutton's long-lunches policy will cost taxpayers—up to $10 billion a year.

The opposition says this is all about supporting small business, so I was surprised to hear Senator Hume on 2GB yesterday saying the policy would subsidise a lunch at the well-known small business Kentucky Fried Chicken, that battling small Aussie business KFC! She added to that this morning on Sky News telling us, 'After they've had a productive week, take them out to the pub and buy them a chicken schnitzel.' There we have it: the coalition's IR policy. It's schnitties, not skills; it's parmas, not penalty rates; it's wagyu, not wage rises. Under Peter Dutton you will be worse off. You cannot afford Peter Dutton.