Basem Abdo (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025. On this side of the House, we know the importance of vocational education and training and its impact on opening up opportunities for so many in my community and right across Australia, whether it's a young person beginning their journey in the workforce or someone looking to reskill or upskill—a need which will become even more important to help address the economic changes our country is witnessing. It's the confidence of knowing that there are initiatives such as the VET and TAFE systems that are not only available but funded, supported and protected by the Albanese Labor government that gives certainty to students enrolled and looking to be enrolled knowing they have a government that supports them on their journey.

I want to highlight the importance of VET student loans to my community, to Australians and to our economy. The VET student loans program makes vocational education and training more accessible to Australians. It enables students to undertake a VET course and defer the payment of tuition fees to an income-contingent loan—a similar scheme to the HECS-HELP loans that enable university students to defer their fees until they pass certain wage thresholds. It's very much about fairness in our tertiary education system. It provides financial support to students undertaking higher level training and courses that address workplace and industry needs. These courses have arguably never been more important with respect to employment outcomes and opportunities, with the opportunities they afford by helping to address skills shortages in industries right across our economy, involving fields such as science, technology, engineering or mathematics and occupational licencing trades. This is particularly important for communities such as mine. Without programs such as the VET student loans, many students would not have the opportunity to undertake tertiary studies. Australian businesses and the economy would also miss out on the skill these students and alumni bring to our industries.

Our government is taking steps to fix a problem identified during a review of how VET student loans were administered in relation to the handling of a student's tax file number by a provider when completing an application for a VET student loan. The use of a tax file number plays a critical role when it comes to the use of a loan scheme such as the VET student loan scheme. It enables students to accurately track and repay their loans via the tax system. This legislation will take steps that will see providers no longer be required to handle tax file numbers of students. It provides the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations with the ability to realign its IT systems to enable this to occur. The changes will allow the department to mask tax file numbers of students and allow for the department to transfer tax file numbers within their relevant systems, relinquishing VET student loan providers from the need to handle tax file numbers. We've taken action to ensure that this issue is resolved and that there is certainty for students and providers. It provides integrity to the system and ensures that there's no disruption imposed on both students and providers. Students will still be able to fulfill the enrolment process when applying for a loan using the Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form, as they were before these reforms.

We're a government that believes that bureaucracy should not override practicality so that technicalities don't hinder vocational education and training, don't hinder progress and don't inhibit the Albanese Labor government's focus on the skills and training required for today and into the future. These changes reflect the careful and considered work of our government in ensuring that Australians are able to participate in acquiring the skills they need to pursue their career of choice. As they embark on their education journey, it can be one made with confidence knowing that the system works.

On this side of the House, we'll continue to fight for VET and TAFE because we understand that a strong vocational education system is vital to addressing the economic challenges and opportunities that are before us. Australia's economy, both at present and going into the future, depends on a workforce with the skills that vocational training helps deliver and on the ability to skill and reskill our workforce to advance both our economy and Australia's national interest, delivering the future of energy and housing, delivering on manufacturing and delivering on a future made in Australia.

We understand the importance of having a workforce with the skills needed to seize new industries, support employers, meet community needs and stay competitive, and we, on this side of the House, back this in through policy and with purpose.

Our government supports those who will be on the front line in addressing the need to build more housing because we, on this side of the House, understand the role that apprentices play in addressing housing supply. Our government has invested in our future tradies by expanding the Key Apprenticeship Program to include a housing construction apprenticeship stream, providing up to $10,000 in financial incentives to new apprentices. This is on top of other key initiatives that support apprentices in their work whilst also delivering real cost-of-living relief, including the living-away-from-home allowance, the Australian apprentice training support payment and the priority hiring incentive.

This government's commitment to skills and training extends beyond VET. Free TAFE reflects what the Albanese Labor government stands for—providing real cost-of-living relief while also advancing opportunities for Australians to get the skills they need to participate in our workforce. Free TAFE, and our TAFE system more broadly, has been the cornerstone of economic participation in communities like mine in my electorate of Calwell, which has seen major changes to its industrial base, specifically the fall of the automotive industry that saw Ford and a raft of employers dependent on Ford close down, causing job losses for thousands in my electorate and surrounding areas. Our supply chains were torn up, and manufacturing was driven out of our community by a Liberal Party that launched a full-scale attack on Australian manufacturing, on Australian industry, on Australian jobs and on Australian families. It is these types of workers who will find the provision of VET TAFE and, specifically, free TAFE of significant help.

When workers need to reskill and to find their feet again in the workforce to regain the dignity of work and provide for themselves and their families, initiatives like this are a necessity. We had those on the other side—those responsible for destroying Australian industry, whose imaginations cannot extend beyond the vision of Australia solely as a quarry—shipping our resources overseas, failing to support value added manufacturing and driving down Australia's economic and manufacturing complexity to the floor. While we set standards, they see floors as ceilings. The now Leader of the Opposition, while talking about free TAFE, said, 'If you don't pay for something, you don't value it.' What a cynical view of the Australian people! Those opposite view communities like mine with disdain and view the Australian people with disdain.

We, on this side, value free TAFE, and we value the Australians who benefit from free TAFE, whether it's a young person leaving school and beginning their journey into further education, towards starting their career, or someone who's been retrenched in middle age, a difficult experience. Regrettably, that was not an uncommon experience in my electorate when those opposite were in charge and actively goaded our local industry to leave, seeing thousands of workers across Melbourne's north left to fend for themselves in an act of economic vandalism only those opposite could ever put together.

Workers like the ones I just mentioned are a key reason why fee-free TAFE is so critical. We remove a key barrier for those who need the opportunity and assistance the most. It's real cost-of-living relief for those who are looking to rejoin the workforce after a job loss or for younger Australians, who are set to benefit. That's why our government is supporting 100,000 places in free TAFE each year from 2027.

On this side of the House we understand that if we embark on large initiatives, such as Future Made in Australia and the Housing Australia Future Fund, we need to invest and support the institutions that will train and equip our workforce with the skills necessary to see these initiatives through and enable Australians to participate in the employment opportunities that these record investments bring.

I am proud of the work that TAFEs like the Kangan Institute do in my electorate, and I want to thank the Minister for Skills and Training for his steadfast advocacy when it comes to providing greater access to skills and training opportunities for all Australians. I know his commitment to our community, to Melbourne's north and to all Australians seeking to skill, upskill and reskill. Fighting for greater access to education irrespective of one's background or circumstances is a core Labor principle. It is a principle that drives members on this side of the House and indeed the Albanese Labor government.

The Albanese Labor government's commitment to opening opportunities to pursue education also extends to students enrolled in university and to those who have graduated. The very first thing we legislated was to cut student debt by 20 per cent and to change the way fees are indexed and repayments are made going forward. We legislated this promise, this commitment, and already student debt reductions have come into effect, providing major cost-of-living relief for so many Australians.

I want to also thank and acknowledge the work of the Minister for Education, someone who cares deeply about education but equally about the importance of the access and opportunity that education brings, particularly and importantly to our outer suburbs.

This reform is often associated with university students who have incurred a HECS debt from either their current or prior university studies. But it's not limited to just the cohort of students who attended a university, as over 280,000 VET student loans and Australian Apprenticeship Support Loans will also see a 20 per cent reduction. This gives students more financial freedom to focus on doing what matters to them. It's worth noting that often this comes at a critical time in their lives as they are starting a family, looking to purchase a new home and tackling the cost of living.

On top of the 20 per cent reduction in student loans, the Albanese Labor government has provided real support to students in my community in Melbourne's outer suburbs. For students in areas that I represent, it can be difficult to access university campuses. The government understands this challenge and has acted by establishing a suburban university study hub in my electorate, because we know that where these study hubs are, university participation rates go up. During the opening of the university study hub in my electorate, a student shared her experience of how the university study hub has enabled her to cut her commute time down to just minutes thanks to her close proximity to the study hub. This has enabled her to study and focus on the studies without disruptions to her work and personal life. Students shared not only the convenience that the university study hub delivers but also the importance of being able to access an environment and the facilities, resources and added wraparound support that it provides. One student was the first in her family to attend a university—a milestone. Students like this are the reason why we fight for education on this side of the House.

I am proud to support this bill. We will always support and fight for measures that make our education system more accessible, stronger and fairer. I commend this bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:33

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