Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

I turn to the member for Forde's motion about productivity, because a nationwide system that gives families access to low-cost, high-quality child care would start to dismantle the 'architecture of discrimination and difference' that limits women's full participation in the workforce. These are the wise words from Professor Rae Cooper from the University of Sydney. How does this relate to the member for Forde's private member motion? It directly relates to the Albanese government's cheaper child care package, which kicked in at the side of this month. It's an important investment that will boost productivity in our economy by helping to unlock the great potential of the women of Australia.

I understand that the LNP don't get it, and this notion wouldn't spring from their party room deliberations. I wonder sometimes if some of them wish it were the 1950s, where women's work was in the kitchen, not the boardroom. But back here in modern Australia, there are so many women who are keen to re-enter the workforce or to do extra hours at their place of employment, but the cost of child care has been holding them back. This is some low-hanging productivity fruit; an instant boost to productivity in one quick step. A mum is out there wanting to work an extra day or two in her job but is financially unable to do so because of childcare expenses, paying so much that it's barely worth packing the kid's backpack for that extra day at work.

A high-quality education is also important when it comes to boosting productivity. What better way to start that journey than by beginning with the professional delivery of early childhood education? What an excellent way to boost productivity for the long term—delivering high-value education reforms for Australian kids. Child care is the platform on which rest primary school, high school, university and voc ed. Get the basics right from the very beginning. I know that the Queensland state government is investing in this stage of education as well by making kindy free for Queensland kids from next year. What a great start to a child's education, coupled with the opportunity for women to re-enter the workforce earlier. That's a double productivity boost.

While we're talking about education, something I'm passionate about is investing in skills and training. It's another lever that governments can pull to boost the productivity machine. We're coming off almost a decade of an absence of government policy when it comes to skills and training. The coalition left behind a nation struggling to catch up. The Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments vacated so many areas of public policy. So, of course, the nation is on the backfoot at the moment, because the LNP sat on their hands and didn't lift a finger—to mangle a metaphor—probably because they were sitting on those fingers. The coalition had a deliberate design principle of suppressing the wages and conditions of workers while not investing in skills and training.

Thankfully, Labor believes in training and skills development, and that is why the Albanese government is investing in institutions like TAFE. In Queensland, I saw the Newman government, back in the day, try to choke the life out of TAFE Queensland by sacking TAFE teachers and staff and ripping funds out of TAFEs, but that slash-and-burn approach didn't work out too well for Mr Newman. Labor has a different approach under Minister O'Connor. We're investing in our greatest resource—our people. We believe in Australians and believe they can be more. We're honouring our key election commitment to provide fee-free TAFE and vocational education places. Whether it's in the care sector, agriculture, hospitality and tourism, construction, technology or the need to ensure our sovereign capability in defence and manufacturing, we need to deliver skills to boost productivity. Again, it is left to this Labor government to clean up the mess and inactivity of the previous Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments.

Do you know how you boost productivity? You invest in people. You don't put up or refuse to pull down barriers for women to enter or re-enter the workforce. You don't defund and gut training and skills institutions like TAFE so that they're unable to deliver the skills and training that industry needs. For anyone who goes around businesses, you know that one of the first things they'll say is that they can't find enough bodies or enough trained bodies for their workplace. We know that you don't suppress wages and conditions for workers wherever and whenever you can, which was the playbook of the coalition government. If you don't invest in people, you don't boost productivity.

It's interesting that we're having a debate put forward by the member for Forde on productivity, but I'm yet to hear any actual solutions put forward by the speakers opposite. I live in hope. I'm sure there's one following, but we live in hope and await some elucidation from those opposite.

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