Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP Student Protection) Bill 2018. The reality is that access to quality and lifelong education is really the lifeblood of this nation. It contributes to the prosperity of all Australians citizens, particularly our young people, and the nation in general. I am currently a registered teacher and a former TAFE teacher. I know firsthand how important vocational education and training is. It is particularly a critical component for this nation's future in the skills development and training for the industries of the future for our young people and for those people who are transitioning from one industry to another industry.

It is no secret that under the LNP government dodgy private VET provider numbers skyrocketed, leaving thousands and thousands of students with massive debts related to courses they have not been able to complete due to the collapse of said dodgy providers. I've had numerous constituents from my electorate in my office, some in tears, over the fact they have a debt and no qualification. This was bound to happen, especially when the government ripped money out of TAFE, which enabled the private market to flourish. In effect, this was privatisation by stealth, cutting public funding to fund the private sector—typical LNP ideologies. The bill before the House today is evidence of the Morrison government's attempt to clean up its own mess. It's a bill that recredits the debts of thousands of students who were ripped off by dodgy for-profit training providers. More than 6,000 students have complained to the ombudsman after being charged VET FEE-HELP for courses they did not undertake or complete, and only a small number to date have received relief from these unfair debts.

I witnessed this attack on vulnerable people by dodgy private providers in my own workplace, the organisation I ran on Palm Island. People without the capacity or the basic foundation skills to undertake diploma skills training were enrolled in dual diplomas with the hoodwinking, I guess, of the gift of a laptop with an internet connection. Sadly for those people, not only did they not get the training they needed but the internet connection they were given was an Optus connection on an island where only Telstra offers services. So that was a little bit of a worry.

Students would never have been expected to pay debts racked up by dodgy for-profit training providers that went rogue under the coalition's watch. The government knew how much money was rolling out. They knew the vast majority of students were not graduating. They knew how much money the rorters were making. This has been an albatross around the neck of this dysfunctional government for more than five years. Labor now welcomes the students getting some relief.

In 2014, the then education minister, Christopher Pyne, was warned of the dismal completion rates under the scheme. However, the government just sat on its hands as providers continued to exploit vulnerable people and rip off students. Despite concerns about appalling recruitment practices at Careers Australia, which were raised publicly in 2015, the coalition continued to provide them loans until they eventually collapsed in May 2015 leaving thousands of students stranded and thousands of workers out of a job after milking the coalition government of some 600 million taxpayer dollars.

From 2009 Labor provided VET FEE-HELP scheme loans of $1.4 billion over five years. Under the coalition VET FEE-HELP loans skyrocketed to $1.8 billion in 2014 and a staggering $3 billion in 2015, totalling $6 billion from 2014 to 2016—overwhelmingly to private providers. The Liberals have provided no leadership on VET, ignoring the underlying flaws in the vocational education and training system, and instead have continued to cut funding that supports skill development. The Productivity Commission have called the system a mess and the OECD reports that Australia doesn't have the skills to engage effectively in global value chains. A recent independent report authored by Terry Moran, one of the original architects of the national system, says it's 'fragmented and devalued'. He said, 'There is no effective governance; funding arrangements are chaotic,' and there is no national strategy.

Since they were elected, the Liberals have cut more than $3 billion from the TAFE training sector for skill development and apprenticeships. In my own community, we have seen a decline in 46 per cent of apprenticeships. In his last budget the then Treasurer, Scott Morrison, cut a further $270 million from apprenticeship funding over the next four years. What has been the impact of these cuts on apprenticeships? Fewer apprenticeships of course. Australia now has 130,000 fewer apprentices and trainees than we did when this government was elected. As I said, in Herbert that's a decline of 46 per cent. That's 1,554 fewer apprentices in Townsville since the LNP was elected. Jobs are cut and apprenticeships are cut. Funding for public hospitals, schools, TAFEs and universities have all been cut. The LNP is always the government of cuts. They hit workers, families, veterans and pensioners the most.

The LNP's feather in the cap is the top end of town as they try to pass on tax handouts for big banks and big business. To do this they are making massive cuts to publicly funded institutions. I think shadow minister for infrastructure, Anthony Albanese, said it best when he said, 'This is a government who clearly doesn't like the public,' and I couldn't agree more. And who was the person who was the architect of these cuts? Who was the person who took an axe to TAFE funding? Who was the architect behind Townsville losing half of our apprentices? It was the then Treasurer and now Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was the face of the cuts, but the person who designed the cuts, who gave his official sign-off, was now Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. The people of Townsville are not fooled by the faux, bus-driving Prime Minister, whose bus is as empty as his promises to Townsville. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has destroyed jobs and apprenticeships in Townsville and across the country.

In the Australia today, TAFE and vocational education and training funding as well as the number of supported students are lower than they were a decade ago. This is despite an increasing number of jobs requiring vocational education and training skills. In too many towns and regional centres across Australia TAFE campuses have closed and courses have been scaled back, but fees have been increased. Employers are also feeling Prime Minister Scott Morrison's cuts. Between 2013 and 2015 employer dissatisfaction with the availability of vocational education and training in regional and rural areas more than doubled. Investment in TAFE and vocational education and training capital infrastructure fell by a staggering almost 75 per cent. The hours of training delivered by TAFE fell by over 25 per cent.

The Turnbull-Abbott governments have presided over seven consecutive quarters of decline in trade apprenticeships. There are 41,000 fewer trade apprentices in training, while employer groups are reporting shortages in trades and technical occupations, in particular in construction and engineering. In 2015-16 alone, 10,403 temporary migration 457-type visas were granted to fill trades and technical jobs, the very occupations where we see apprenticeships in steep decline. Can you believe the nerve of this government, cutting jobs and apprentices whilst increasing the number of 457-style visas? There are two things in Townsville that have grown under the Morrison government and the LNP: unemployment and 457-style visas.

Australia's economy is changing rapidly. As a result, the skills Australians need to get well-paid and secure jobs are changing as well. For many, these changes have not been easy. Underemployment is at a record high and unemployment is far too common, particularly among younger Australians in the regions and retrenched workers. At the same time, more than one in three employers report difficulty in filling jobs. It's clear the jobs exist; we just need to ensure that Australians have the necessary skills to get the jobs. Australia needs to invest in vocational education, skill development and training now more than ever. The LNP don't seem to care about skilling Australian workers, as evidenced in their failure to spend one cent of the flawed Skilling Australians Fund on an apprenticeship.

All Australians should have access throughout their working lives to the education, skills, and training that they need to acquire and secure quality jobs that enable them to live good lives and be active, contributing members of our communities. Labor believe no-one should be excluded from accessing vocational education and training as a result of financial disadvantage, course costs, fear of debt or regional disadvantage. A skilled and educated workforce is a national economic priority, and TAFE is the lifeblood of our vocational education and training system. Labor will restore TAFE as the major public provider in the vocational education and training system. Labor's plans for apprenticeships and traineeships and TAFE are very simple.

Labor will fight this government's cuts, and invest in skill development and apprenticeships by reversing the LNP cuts to TAFE; guaranteeing that at least two-thirds of public vocational education and training funding goes to TAFE; investing in a new Building TAFE for the Future Fund to revitalise TAFE campuses and facilities in regional and outer metropolitan areas; setting a target of one in 10 apprenticeships on all Commonwealth priority projects, including major government business enterprise projects; expanding preapprenticeship programs for young jobseekers; and investing in advanced adult apprenticeships for workers in transition.

Labor have always championed quality apprenticeships and will continue to ensure that more Australians can follow that trusted pathway into decent work. The Labor inquiry into postsecondary education will build upon the best of Australia's vocational and education training system and repair the damage done by the unscrupulous for-profit providers and the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government's neglect. Delivering jobs and apprenticeships is the ALP way. Labor is the party that always delivers for apprentices. We will continue to protect TAFE and Australian apprenticeships from this LNP government, because vocational education and training has a major and significant role to play in Australia's future.

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