Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I absolutely, completely agree with the sentiment of the last speaker that we shouldn't have to travel to get education. Before I go into the reasons why we're not supporting the 'Free/Not Free TAFE Bill', I'd like to tell you about a business called Faircloth & Reynolds in Coffs Harbour. It was started 40 years ago by Peter Faircloth and David Reynolds. They are a family owned business specialising in refrigeration, air-conditioning and catering along the north-east of New South Wales. They employ about 300 people. In 2023, they committed to training 50 apprentices, and every year they put on at least 15 to 20 apprentices. Just after COVID-19, they came and saw me about the problems that they were having with TAFE NSW. Because they had had a relationship and because they're such a good family owned country, regional and rural business, they continued to try and work through the problems with TAFE NSW. They couldn't get their apprentices into the courses in Coffs Harbour, so what they did was build a purpose built room onto their factory to train their apprentices and bring in a TAFE teacher. They spent a lot of money doing that. This year—remember, we're going through a cost-of-living crisis at the moment; the cost of material has gone through the roof, but they're doing the right thing and trying to keep their apprentices on—they've been told by TAFE NSW that, unless they can have a minimum of 15 apprentices, then they will have to cover the cost, the business will have to cover the cost, of the TAFE training. That is not free TAFE; that is costing a business who gives so much back to the community of Coffs Harbour an ultimatum that 'if you don't pay for it, you don't get it'. Therefore, all these young would-be apprentices won't get their apprenticeships.

What's the solution? I'll tell you, Mr Deputy Speaker Goodenough. The solution from TAFE NSW was for those young apprentices to travel the 153 kilometres to Port Macquarie a couple of times a week. Or if there's no availability there, you can go 85 kilometres up the road to Grafton, but that's full. Finally, if you want an apprenticeship, you can travel the 385 kilometres down to Newcastle. That is not free TAFE. It puts barriers to actually getting a trade in front of these young men and women.

I wrote to the state minister, the Hon. Steven Whan, on 4 December and expressed my concern and, to his credit, he wrote back to me on 19 December suggesting a certain course, which, unfortunately, involves a lot of travel and no solution. As I just said, I wrote to that minister. I also wrote to the Hon. Jason Clare MP on 4 December. Today is 4 February. Do you think I've had a response, Deputy Speaker? No. I haven't had a response. That's how much this minister cares about young apprentices, or potential young apprentices, in the region.

Maybe the Free—not free—TAFE Bill only relates to metropolitan areas, but the fact is that, despite the disregard for local, regional and rural businesses such as Faircloth & Reynolds, this bill is atrocious. This bill has not been costed. If it goes ahead in perpetuity, it will cost the taxpayer half a billion dollars ongoing. That's not free TAFE. Sure, some TAFE students—not all TAFE students—might get free TAFE, but the taxpayer doesn't get free TAFE. Then, according to the minister's speech, not all courses will be covered. There's a little asterisk down the bottom where it says that, actually, it's not all TAFE that's free; it's just some courses, not all courses. So it's inequitable. It's not fair to some students when compared to other students.

The fact is that, despite spending $1.5 billion on free TAFE, we have over 80,000 fewer apprentices and trainees today than when Labor took office, and we have a graduation rate of about 13 per cent. Australians need to ask themselves who they trust on training: Labor, or Master Builders Australia and the Housing Industry Association, because they don't agree with the bill. Don't take it from me. I'm an ex-copper, ex-defence lawyer and hack politician, but the real experts out there are saying that this is a bad bill.

There are 34,685 fewer women apprentices and trainees in training, nearly halving all starts previously for women in skills. From June 2022 to June 2023 skills shortages increased by 12.5 per cent. The latest data indicates that 33 per cent of all occupations are in shortage, which is higher than under the coalition. No wonder we have a housing shortage. I note that the Prime Minister came out recently and said, 'I'm going to give apprenticeship tradies $10,000 to continue or to start their trade'—there's a little asterisk; go to the bottom of the page—'if they don't live at home.' I have a 17-year-old son who's in year 12 at a technical college. When he heard that, he said, 'I don't know any apprentices who don't live at home because they can't afford it.'

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