Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Free TAFE Bill 2024, which is an incredibly important piece of reform. It will embed free TAFE as a fixture of our national vocational education system.

I know it's important because my husband, my brother, my sister, my dad and my mum all went to TAFE. You could say that that probably makes me the odd one out, but it also means that I know firsthand the huge role that TAFE institutes play in unlocking opportunities and equipping people with skills that they need to get ahead. Thanks to TAFE, my husband is a fully licensed plumber and gas fitter, which has allowed us to run our own small business on the South Coast. Thanks to TAFE, my brother is a qualified chef who's worked in New South Wales, Queensland and the UK in a career that he loved, before moving into food wholesaling. Thanks to TAFE, my mum was able to retrain in her 50s to become an aged-care diversional therapy worker, a job that she says was the best she ever had. This is just my family, but there are so many stories just like this right across Australia.

Free TAFE, which has already supported over 568,000 enrolments in the past two years, has had a huge impact in our communities, particularly across our regions, which represent one in three of those places. This bill will support the continual delivery of 100,000 fee-free TAFE places across Australia each year, removing barriers so that more people can gain skills in their own backyard.

I'm incredibly proud to be able to stand here today to support this, because it's one of the many ways that the Albanese Labor government is helping people to build their future. Free TAFE will give Australians the confidence to pursue their dreams, to up-skill without the extra pressure that paying courses can sometimes bring. It will mean we have more nurses in our hospitals, more aged-care workers looking after our loved ones and more tourism and hospitality professionals—sectors which are critical to strong local economies. We'll also support building the pipeline of skilled workers Australia needs to remain competitive on the global stage, ensuring that we continue to grow our local industries and strengthen our national economy.

This bill ensures that free TAFE places target industries experiencing current and projected workforce shortfalls. Jobs in construction, the care economy, manufacturing and industry are undergoing a net zero transition. This is important, because, when we came to government, 2½ years ago, we were faced with the biggest skills shortage Australia had seen in more than 50 years—a direct result of the former coalition government ripping $3 billion from TAFE and training and something that the Leader of the Opposition would have no hesitation in doing again if given half the chance. Let's face it: those opposite have form on this. They turned their back on aged care, they barely put a cent towards housing and they promised hundreds of projects without budgeting for them and without investing in the workforce needed to get those projects done. By standing in the way of free TAFE, again those opposite are still at odds with what our communities want.

It was not long ago that the deputy leader of the Liberals said, 'If you don't pay for it, you don't value it.' Tell this to the apprentice chef that said, 'I'm going to school to get a better job so we can have a better life,' or to the sparky that said, 'I like pulling things apart and putting them back together, so I'm going to go and do that for the rest of my life,' or to the student nurse that said, 'It gives a lot of young people and older people an opportunity,' or to the nurses that have saved over $17,000, the electricians that have saved over $12,000 and the carpenters that have saved nearly $3,000. Those numbers speak for themselves, but all we've seen from those opposite is non-stop nonsense on this.

This is cost-of-living relief that's making a real difference for 568,000 people across the country—something that those opposite voted against. When it comes to workers, all we've heard from the opposition is, well, nothing. They've confused signature dish with signature policy. Taxpayers having to foot the bill for long lunches is all they've got.

We on this side of the chamber know how important the VET system is for Australians and for Australia's future. We know that this bill will work because free TAFE has already changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians, including over 127,000 people across the regions. This includes in my own electorate of Eden-Monaro, where we've got TAFE campuses in Bega, Cooma, Goulburn, Jindabyne, Queanbeyan, Tumut and Yass, not to mention the Canberra Institute of Technology and Moruya TAFE, which are used by many of my constituents as well. Free TAFE has supported people to build skills in their own backyard so that they can continue to work locally. We have so many industries across the mighty Eden-Monaro that require TAFE qualifications, from agriculture and tourism to Snowy 2.0 and many of our small businesses.

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting Queanbeyan TAFE with the state member for Monaro, who is the New South Wales minister for skills, training and education. We were speaking with bricklaying apprentices. They told me that there was nothing worse than being cooped up in an office building all day. It wasn't their style. They wanted to develop hands-on skills and give back to their community in really practical ways, which is exactly what they're doing. There's nothing wrong with wanting to go to uni, but it's not for everyone, which is why being able to access a range of vocational courses in our regions is so important. With over 110,000 free TAFE courses already completed to date, this program has made that possible. That is a really positive completion rate getting more workers into our communities where we need them most.

It's one of the many ways since coming to government that we've made our education system fairer and more accessible for every Australian, regardless of their postcode. We've wiped $3 billion in student debt and will cut a further 20 per cent from all student loans if re-elected. We will also lift repayment thresholds, keeping more money in people's hip pocket, providing important cost-of-living relief. We've signed a landmark $30 billion five-year national skills agreement with all states and territories. This puts TAFE at the centre of skills and training. We're building a national network of TAFE centres of excellence, and we're uncapping satellite broadband to help regional and remote students better access education. We're supporting teaching, nursing and social work students with the cost of mandatory prac placements, with $319.50 per week to help out. We're investing $66.9 million to double the number of university study hubs across the country, including 20 across regional communities. Just the other week, the Prime Minister announced that, from 1 July, apprentices working in the housing construction sector will receive $10,000 in incentive payments on top of their wages over the lifetime of their training.

Under those opposite, courses are cut, costs go up and completion rates go down. They put barriers in place, making a uni or TAFE qualification unattainable. We need this to change. I know it too firsthand, because we've had over 10 apprentices in our local business, and, unfortunately, over the lifetime of the former coalition government, they cut completion incentives for apprentices, and we've seen the number of apprentice completions go down because of it. The Albanese Labor government is building Australia's future, and that starts with investing in people. We're supporting people to train at home so they can continue to work locally, because you shouldn't have to pack your bags to build a career, and that is something that I think everyone should get behind in this chamber. I commend the bill.

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