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

Free TAFE is making a difference to Australians, and that's why we're making it permanent. It's getting Australian workers and employers the skills they need all while reducing cost-of-living pressures. That is probably why Mr Dutton and the coalition want to cut it. We've heard them call free TAFE wasteful spending and say it needs to be cut. This, of course, is coming from the party that has come up with its burgers for bigwigs plan, where taxpayers will subsidise long lunches for bosses. And they still won't tell us what it will cost.

Just today, one day, we've had Senator Hume refuse to say at all how much it will cost on Sky News; we had Sussan Ley on the ABC saying it will be $250 million; we've had Senator Canavan say it will cost less than $250 million on Channel 9; and we've had David Littleproud indicate it will cost about $125 million on Sky News Regional. You can clear this up by releasing the costings. The way this is going, the costings for this policy are a bigger secret than Area 51. They're a bigger secret than Scott Morrison's secret ministries. Come clean and tell us what it will cost.