Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025 we are considering is important because vocational educational training plays a huge role in building the skilled workforce Australia needs now and will need in the future. We are taking steps to fix a problem identified during a review of how these VET student loans are administered. We have taken action to ensure an issue that emerged is resolved, and that there is certainty the students and providers. The bill is a fix for where the VET student loan providers were handling tax file numbers and it wasn't authorised in the legislation for that to happen. Tax file numbers are an essential piece of information for administering the loans program of this kind, so this is why the Albanese government is bringing forward the VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill to fix the problem.

The bill will retrospectively authorise the student loan providers who are handling the tax file numbers to do that. The bill will also provide certainty to providers and government offices that their past handling of students' tax file numbers for the loans scheme was lawful. There is absolutely no change to the way students apply for VET student loans using the electronic Commonwealth assistance form.

This might seem like a pretty minor piece of legislation but it achieves a number of things. It underpins the VET Student Loans program, which makes vocational education and training more accessible to Australians by providing opportunities for students to do a VET course at the diploma level and above and defer the payment of tuition fees through an income contingent loan. This program really helps to address skills shortages across industries involving science, technology, engineering or maths and occupational licensing trades, among many others.

The Albanese Labor government is building Australia's future and boosting the workforce that we need to deliver it. We're investing in priority occupations and creating a modern, adaptable apprenticeship system, which is critical to the nation's future prosperity and productivity. Without programs such as the VET Student Loans, many students wouldn't have the opportunity to undertake tertiary studies. Australian businesses and the economy would miss out on those skills that VET students and alumni bring to all our industries. It's worth thinking about the number of people who are doing apprenticeships. If I look at my own electorate of Macquarie, there are nearly 1,800 students currently undertaking training in the VET scheme. I should point out my neighbours have pretty good levels, too. In Lindsay, there are 2,365 people. These are the most recent figures for the last year of people doing training. My neighbour to the north, the Hunter, has 3,500 people. Calare to my west has nearly 3,000 people. Those are significant numbers.

The top 20 list of TAFE enrolments also tells a story. The second highest on that list is the Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care, and this is the data for New South Wales. Wentworth Falls in my electorate offers that course, and it is terrific to see how many people are taking it up. Also on that list is the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care, also taught at Wentworth Falls. Both of those are vital for providing the staff we need for our early education centres, because kids need to have really qualified educators to take them through those very formative years. I also note that Certificate IV in mental health and Certificate IV in Entrepreneurship and New Business both make it into the top 20 courses in New South Wales, and that is a really good sign for future employers. It shows what young people and maybe older people are interested in pursuing. I also note that, when I look at the key sectors, the top two courses in the agricultural sector are Certificate II in Animal Care and Certificate III in Horticulture, and both of these are courses offered by the wonderful Richmond TAFE.

The key to the revival of TAFE has been free TAFE. Only Labor is the party that believes in free TAFE; those opposite do not. Delivering cost-of-living relief and valuable skills to Australians is a priority for the Albanese government, which is why we passed the free TAFE bill, as well as announcing the $10,000 incentive payment for Australians who want to become a housing apprentice. So let's talk about free TAFE. There have been more than 685,000 enrolments under free TAFE. That's 685,000 opportunities to help build Australia's future in critical skills, like the care and disability courses, which have seen more than 186,000 enrolments. In technology and digital, there have been more than 65,000 enrolments. The total figure for the early-childhood education and care sector has been more than 53,000 enrolments. And that shows where people are picking up. I should point out that, under free TAFE, a student training in Cert III in Early Childhood Education and Care in New South Wales can save up to an estimated $1,930 dollars in their training. That is absolutely cost-of-living relief. There are also more than 52,000 apprentices in construction courses, with that number set to grow thanks to the investment in more places in such an important sector. I note that, in the Hawkesbury and the Blue Mountains, the construction sector will be feeling the benefit of this. The construction industry has the largest number of total registered businesses in the Hawkesbury, part of my electorate, comprising nearly 30 per cent of the total. The construction industry in the Blue Mountains is nearly 20 per cent of all registered businesses. Emu Plains, of course, has its fair share of construction businesses, like PAAL homes, who I visited earlier this year. So workers for this sector are essential, and cost shouldn't be a barrier. We have given special focus to the housing sector because of the catching up that we have to do to have enough workers to meet the additional housing supply and make up for what hasn't been done in the past decade or so.

Cutting 20 per cent of student debt also applies to those who have incurred fees as vocational education and training students. The one-off reduction to student debts will apply to more than 280,000 VET students and Australian apprenticeship support loan accounts, which represents about seven per cent of all income-contingent loan accounts that are administered by the government. This measure to cut 20 per cent of debt is going to get rid of more than $500 million from the loan balances of VET students and apprentices. That's a big figure. It's great to be able to provide that sort of relief to people.

There are a couple of ways we've really incentivised apprentices to work in the housing sector. The additional $10,000 in financial incentives that kicked in from 1 July is one of those. That is our Key Apprenticeship Program, which includes a housing construction apprenticeship stream. We've also extended by six months, to the end of this year, the Australian apprentice training support payment and priority hiring incentive, which is providing up to $5,000 to apprentices and employers in priority occupations. Plus there's an increase to the living-away-from-home allowance from July this year, which helps apprentices who need to relocate for their apprenticeship. I know apprentices value the opportunity to learn and earn at the same time and that they appreciate the training that they receive both off and on the job, but we know that they do experience cost-of-living pressures and so I'm very pleased to see the steps that we are taking.

The final thing I'd like to point to is the overall investment that we have made and the overall impact it's having. Data from the national VET data custodian, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, shows that apprentice numbers are up under the Albanese Labor government in comparison to 2019 figures. Those are the pre-COVID figures. We need to be fair about this. The government is investing $1.4 billion in supporting apprenticeships over 2025-26. In the last financial year, more than 62,000 employers and 119,000 apprentices have received incentive payments. The data is showing that our strategy to rebalance the apprenticeship system towards priority occupations that are critical to our current and future workforce needs is working. I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.

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