Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Skills and Training, Senator Watt. We know fee-free TAFE is changing lives. Within the first three months more than 118,000 people had enrolled in free TAFE courses, with hundreds of thousands more over the past 18 months. These enrolments have been in areas like care, early childhood education and construction. How is the Albanese Labor government bringing costs down so Australians can get the skills they need for the jobs they want, and what are the key barriers to delivering this support to Australian students?

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

Thanks very much, Senator Urquhart. While we will very much miss you in this chamber, we know you will do an outstanding job as the future member for Braddon. I also take the opportunity to acknowledge the Far North Queensland delegation who are here. It's great to have some more Queenslanders in this chamber as well.

We know that Australians are under the pump at the moment, and that's why we are delivering cost-of-living relief and helping more Australians get a job. That's exactly why Labor is making it free for more Australians to study at TAFE—so they can access high-quality, affordable training. Free TAFE is delivering the training that Australians want and the skills they need to get ahead for free.

Yesterday I attended a ceremony here celebrating the Australian Skillaroos, the best apprentices and trainees from around Australia, who competed on the world stage at the WorldSkills event in France earlier this year. But, shortly after yesterday's event, the deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, snuck away to the coalition caucus room, where they chose to turn their backs on these TAFE students, announcing the coalition will oppose Labor's Free TAFE Bill. Peter Dutton's deputy Liberal leader went further when she spoke in the House yesterday, where—wait for this—she said, 'It's a key principle of the Liberal Party: if you don't pay for something, you don't value it.' How unbelievably arrogant of the Liberal Party to say those sorts of things. She went on to say:

So, if you're told that your TAFE is free … all you have to do is turn up … if that's all it is but you haven't paid for it, you don't see it as something that makes a difference to you in your life; you don't see it as something valuable.

I have never heard such arrogant, vile sneering from someone, looking down their nose at those working-class Australians who are trying to get ahead. If the Liberals believe that apprentices and trainees don't deserve free TAFE, well Labor does. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Urquhart, first supplementary?

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since June 2023, more than half a million Australians have enrolled in free TAFE courses. Despite this, I know the Liberals and Nationals have described free TAFE as 'wasteful spending'. Why is it important that free TAFE is enshrined in legislation, and what would be the consequences of failing to do so?

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

Thanks, Senator Urquhart. You've really got to hand it to Mr Dutton's coalition, because it is them who called free TAFE 'wasteful spending' and it is them who say that Australians don't value something if they don't pay for it. No Labor government will ever call TAFE a waste, and I'm proud the Albanese Labor government is locking in free TAFE, making it permanent nationwide, and so are the working-class Australians who are taking up those free TAFE places to get ahead in life.

But the Liberals and Nationals say that you don't value something if you don't pay for it, that you should pay more to go to TAFE. What else do the Liberals say that Australians don't value, because they don't pay for it? What else will Mr Dutton make Australians pay for, just so they can value it? Will Australians pay more to see a GP under Mr Dutton, just like he tried to do last time he was the health minister? Will Australians pay more to access the free NDIS, just so they can value it? Australians are beginning to realise exactly how arrogant and reckless Mr Dutton is, and we'll make sure they remember it.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Urquhart, second supplementary?

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One in every three free TAFE places have been taken up by people in regional communities, and six in every 10 enrolments have been women. How is the Albanese Labor government's investment in free TAFE supporting people across Australia to get the high-quality skills our country needs, and what challenges has this cost-of-living support faced so far?

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

Thank you, Senator Urquhart. Obviously, the biggest challenge we face in delivering more free TAFE to Australians is the sneering, arrogant view from Liberal Party members and senators that you don't value something if you don't pay for it. If the Liberals believe that the diesel mechanics in Mackay taking up free TAFE don't value their training, Labor does. If the Liberals believe the trainee nurses in Devonport don't value their training and their courses, Labor does. If the Liberals believe that apprentice carpenters in Nowra don't value their training because they don't pay for it, Labor does. Labor will continue to deliver the free TAFE courses that working-class Australians deserve and that they are using to get a pay rise and a step ahead in life. We will not cop the sneering, arrogant, looking-down-the-nose attitude of the Liberal Party, who want to keep people in their place, just as the Liberals always want to do. Free TAFE will stay under Labor. It'll go under Peter Dutton and the Liberals.