Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Hansard source

On Saturday, anybody who cares about the future of young people, the future opportunity for those workers who have been restructured out of industries and are going through difficult times, anybody who is concerned about women trying to re-enter the workforce, will vote 1 for TAFE. If you want to vote 1 for TAFE, it means you put the Liberal-National coalition last. Let me tell you what their record is on TAFE. They have cut $1.7 billion out of schools and TAFEs across New South Wales—$1.7 billion. Have a talk to people in local areas; they will tell you that the cost of doing a TAFE course is now thousands of times the original cost. The Smart and Skilled policy is exactly as both Luke Foley and the shadow minister, Ryan Park, describe it—dumb and dumber. Add to that their absolute shambles of implementing a new computer system. This has seen many students turned away, not able to enrol, not sure what their course is going to cost, and they are devastated by how much they are going to have to fork out for TAFE. It is hard enough to get a start and to get the qualifications you need. All the Baird government has done is make it so much more difficult. In comparison we have a tremendous shadow minister in Ryan Park, under Luke Foley's leadership. Put them in charge of TAFE on Sunday to save it.

See this speech in context