Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To concur with my colleague there, I'd just like to say how pleased we are that we've got Rebecca White as our candidate in Lyons. She will win that seat and deliver for Lyons.

I want to speak today about the success of this government's investment in fee-free TAFE. I cannot underestimate how valuable it is to my community, my home state of Tasmania, that over 6,000 Tasmanians have been studying a vocational course since the Albanese Labor government implemented this life-changing policy. Fee-free TAFE delivers a coordinated response to workforce shortages in industries of local and national priority, helping to build the pipeline of skilled workers that the community requires and that we need going forward.

I'm so proud to be a senator in this Labor government, which is committed to investing in Tasmanians and saving them thousands of dollars in fees and course costs. Fee-free TAFE has allowed Tasmanians to study a subject in which they will gain the skills that are in short supply, and it will give them a secure job when they graduate. All of this will lead to greater benefits for our local economy. The Albanese government remains committed to implementing policies which create opportunities for Tasmanians to succeed and for sectors to thrive. Getting an education, getting a job and having a secure future is what drives us as a Labor government in this place and the other place every day. Tasmanians will benefit from this, and TAFE is benefitting from it.

Those opposite gutted TAFE when they took $3 billion out of it. That's what they did when they were in government.