Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

But I have to say that, having spent quite a considerable amount of time in Townsville, you also are singularly fortunate to have been chosen by your constituents to represent them in the Australian parliament.

My friend the member for Gorton reminded me a little bit of a worm squirming or twisting on a hook, because deep down he sees that this legislation is really an important initiative. He sought to pillory the government, accusing us of pork-barrelling and assisting the marginals and not the marginalised. He suggested that government resources were going where they were not deserved, that government resources were not going to where needy people were. Then he had to stand up and say, ‘However, at Sunshine, in my electorate in Victoria, we are getting a college.’ Then he said that, if this is to be established, he wants to play an important role in it—and I think any member would clearly want to play an important role in a local Australian technical college.

His argument was a bit thin, because he spent an inordinate amount of time condemning us for basically not putting Australian technical colleges where he believes they ought to be, and then he said, ‘However, I’ve got one.’ I think that basically blows his argument right out of the water. This government is placing Australian technical colleges where they are needed. When this policy was announced prior to the last election, it was a very popular policy. The fact that we are now debating the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill 2006, which will bring forward funding, is an indication that the roll-out of Australian technical colleges is proceeding expeditiously and in a very successful way.

Again I want to draw to the attention of the House an inconsistency uttered by the member for Gorton. He talked about 2007 and the proposed Australian technical college at Sunshine. He said that the reason we have this bill is that we need the money now because the colleges are being established more quickly than was anticipated. He then said that, even though we are talking about earlier money, he is not convinced that his college will be open by 2007. The whole reason we have this bill is that his college is about to open. However, I feel deep down that the member for Gorton really wants to support this bill and that he does not sincerely support the second reading amendment moved by the shadow minister.

I am particularly proud to say that the coalition government has always been mindful that we must give our young people the best opportunities in order that they can gain a good education that will lead them into good jobs where they can be solid, contributing members of our society. The Australian technical colleges are a great example of the Australian government putting this philosophy into action. An amount of $343.6 million has been pledged to create 25 of these technical colleges in 24 regions around the country. I have been a strong advocate of the vital role of all levels of government in giving students opportunities. Once governments give students the opportunities, it is then up to the students to exercise them, take advantage of them and achieve the best possible outcomes.

The main aim of the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill 2006 is to fast-track funds for the establishment of these valuable institutions, the Australian technical colleges. The funds were originally allocated for a period ending in 2009, but the progress of establishing the colleges is ramping up. It is moving at a very rapid pace and so the money is required sooner. So, instead of the pessimism uttered by the member for Gorton—who seems to wring his hands and say that his local college at Sunshine will not be established by 2007—the reality is that this bill will bring about the availability of the money earlier so that the colleges can be set up more quickly, including the college at Sunshine in Victoria.

The fact that we are expediting and rolling forward the expenditure reflects the dedication and conscientious effort of the coalition government in bringing useful services online in a prompt time frame. It also reflects an ideology that suggests it is pointless to wait until the future when you can do something that can be achieved for great benefit today. Often governments, particularly governments of the Labor persuasion, have been condemned for saying one thing and then doing another—for making rash promises which never attain a situation of reality. But, in this case, we have made a promise. Not only is our promise becoming reality but it is becoming reality much more quickly.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I know that, as the honourable member for Herbert, you were instrumental in ensuring that one of these Australian technical colleges will be placed in that area you like to refer to as paradise—namely, Townsville—and that other colleges will be established in other parts of the state of Queensland: the Gold Coast, north Brisbane and Gladstone. The north Brisbane college will initially service the Sunshine Coast and I hope that, in the fullness of time, we do get an Australian technical college right in the heart of the Sunshine Coast. We of course have excellent educational institutions, excellent government schools and non-government schools. We have a tremendous Sunshine Coast TAFE and we also have the University of the Sunshine Coast. So an Australian technical college on the Sunshine Coast would of course add another layer of choice to students who come from one of the most rapidly growing areas in Australia.

The areas which were initially given Australian technical colleges were identified as regions that have high youth populations and also a significant need for skills. They are also areas which have an enthusiastic industry base that is supportive of these colleges. The Australian technical colleges are designed to provide high-quality tuition to year 11 and year 12 students in vocational as well as academic pursuits. Tuition in these colleges will be provided in a wide range of areas, including cooking for commercial establishments; metalwork, including fabricating, machining, toolmaking, sheet metalworking and welding; automotive industries, such as mechanics, autoelectrics, panel beating and painting; building and construction; electrical trades; and technologies such as refrigeration and airconditioning. Employers tell me that they often place advertisements in the media seeking people to carry out trade work. They have trade opportunities in their business, but so often these positions go unfilled. So there clearly is a shortage of skilled people. The government, by allocating money to Australian technical colleges, is doing its bit to ensure that businesses are able to grow and expand, which boosts the economy and, in so doing, provides job opportunities. The fact that all of these courses are being offered will help make up those skilled vocations that are always required by a progressive society.

It is unfortunate that many people in Australia have sought at all costs to go to a university—any university—to do any course, even though graduation from that course, while an achievement in itself, does not necessarily bring about a career path. I think trade training has been underrecognised as an important part of Australia’s future. Many people have spurned trade training in the interests of obtaining, say, an arts degree from a university. While an arts degree is a very useful thing to have—I have one—it does not necessarily fit you out for a job in the way that the Australian technical colleges will by giving people trade training in areas much needed by industry and the community.

Students will be enrolled in school based apprenticeships, while also receiving tuition in a new business course and in all-important information technology studies. Those who do enrol in Australian technical colleges will acquire skills not only in a trade but also in business and entrepreneurial operations. This will help meet the goals of equipping our young people with as many skills as possible in their journey towards real, meaningful and rewarding employment. It is envisaged that some of the participants will go on to self-employment, further study at university—maybe in a technical area related to the area studied at the Australian technical college—or further training. The technical colleges are based in existing high schools so that students can continue learning through their usual curriculum and so gain their year 12 certificate. Some of these colleges will be based in a variety of situations, but I think the whole idea is to have some sort of orderly transition from school to a form of tertiary study so that we do not have the sudden break that once was there.

The colleges will have school based new apprenticeships, will be guided by industry and will have a great deal of relevance to industries in the area. The colleges must offer Australian workplace agreements to teaching staff. We see AWAs as a very important initiative which brings about flexibility. Different employees have different needs; different employers have different needs. As has been indicated during question time by the minister, those on Australian workplace agreements earn considerably more on average than those not on Australian workplace agreements, and it is important that these AWAs are offered to teaching staff.

I was quite appalled at comments made by the Leader of the Opposition when he did a complete somersault on his previous support for AWAs and said that a Labor government would abolish AWAs. Of course, we are not quite sure what a Labor government would do with respect to existing AWAs, because there has been some conflict, Mr Deputy Speaker Lindsay—and you may well have seen reports of this conflict—between what the Leader of the Opposition says about allowing existing AWAs to serve out their time and what some union officials are saying, which is something to the effect that only ‘genuine’ AWAs will be allowed to continue. In other words, if a union does not like an AWA, it will rip it up. The ALP has been pilloried, and appropriately so, for quite irresponsible comments. It does not look very good for the Australian Labor Party or for parliament generally when that side of politics is prepared to junk perfectly good policy—in fact, outstanding, progressive policy—in the interests of knuckling under to the trade unions.

People throughout our community, particularly in the private sector, have been voting with their feet and walking away from trade unions. I think that trade union membership is somewhere below 20 per cent now, so it is a pity that such organisations have such a stranglehold on the Australia Labor Party. They used to say that the Labor Party in government was the government of the unions, by the unions, for the unions. To give them credit, I thought that Labor was moving away from that, but, when I saw the fairly disgusting knuckling under to the union movement in the announcement that a future Labor government would scrap AWAs, it was clear that the Labor Party certainly has not changed its spots.

The design of the colleges will be determined by the management bodies. The roll-outs have already started. A number of colleges are opening and it is expected that large numbers of these colleges will progressively come on line. Agreements have been reached with around 13 management consortia—and this is expected to increase to 16 by the end of this month—that will be providing school based initiatives from next year. Management of these institutions is carried out by various consortia made up of local business operators, schools, training organisations such as TAFE colleges, universities and industry representatives. The colleges will have the added effect of promoting general pride in the acquisition of skills in trades. They are skills that are valuable not only to the individual but also to the wider community.

The Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill 2006 is a very positive initiative. Even though the ALP will huff and puff and say that they see some warts in this legislation, the bill is before the House because we are ahead of time with respect to Australian technical colleges. We want to provide the money sooner, because we have achieved so much and there is no point in postponing this initiative. This is a case of a government actually expediting the implementation of a promise given at election time—quite contrary, of course, to the record of the Australian Labor Party, who say what they want before elections and then tear up their promises afterwards. This legislation is positive. It is bringing forward expenditure on the Australian technical colleges, which will be a very strong arm in the skilling of Australia’s workforce. This is a wonderful initiative by this government and I am very pleased and proud to stand in the parliament today to support the bill before the House

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