Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Fee-free TAFE is transforming the lives of Western Australians, and it is changing the nation and the state of WA. We are building skills not just for today but for tomorrow as well. And do you know what? We are seeing employers needing more skilled workers and we are helping solve that problem. We are also doing this in the areas that matter: nursing, construction, aged care and disability care, early childhood education and of course the tech sectors. Fee-free TAFE is smart design. We are opening affordable targeted training in spaces in fields that are state and national priorities.

Since the program began, over 100,000 Western Australians have enrolled in fee-free TAFE. Fee-free TAFE has delivered more than 34,000 course completions in WA, with additional completions to come as many students choose to study part time while balancing work and family responsibilities. Behind these numbers are regular Western Australians taking these real opportunities—people like Natalie, who used fee-free TAFE to complete a Certificate III in Individual Support and moved straight into disability support work in the same year. She explained:

Getting my qualifications at South Metro TAFE has helped build my self-worth and I now have a job in disability support that I love. The guidance you get from lecturers is amazing; they are so encouraging, and no question is a silly question.

This is an Albanese government policy helping people with the next chapter of their lives.

In my electorate of Swan, we are proud to have South Metro TAFE's Bentley campus. This is home to the Bentley Pines Training Restaurant. It's a live-training venue where hospitality and cookery students train in the professional kitchen and dining room. This particular restaurant is booked out for months. The Albanese government invested $2 million to upgrade the commercial kitchen at Bentley Pines and the WA government's contribution to further support to these facilities was completed last year. This is a game changer for students. The upgraded facilities deliver modern equipment, a clear line of sight between the kitchen and the dining area, and a facility that mirrors contemporary industry standards.

The Prime Minister has twice visited this campus, and this reflects the government's commitment to Swan and to building a skilled workforce for our venues for tourism businesses and hospitality, because we want to keep the doors open and lift the service quality and showcase what Western Australia has to offer. For a school leaver taking their first step, a parent retraining or a mature-age workout that is changing careers, the Bentley Pines restaurant upgrades turn ambition into practical skills that translates to more shifts, more jobs and more income for West Australians.

In a previous visit to this campus, I met Kayla, a single mum and one of the thousands of Australians benefiting from fee-free TAFE. For Kayla, not having to find money to cover course fees meant that she finally had the opportunity to improve her skills. She had been working in kitchens most of her life, but now, with her kids in school, she wanted to get qualifications towards a career that she can do for the next 20 years. This is a really big deal. As Kayla told her kids, 'I'm going to school to get a better job so we can have a better life.'

Fee-free TAFE is a reform that only a Labor government is willing to provide to Australians, and it is targeted towards building skills for students and aligned for the WA workforce priorities. The difference between having fee-free TAFE versus a paid TAFE course is the difference between someone deciding they want to study this course or not.

We are trying to do two things. One is lower the barriers for students because we want them to have access to education—something that the Albanese Labor government will always invest in. But we're also ensuring that our businesses have the workers that they need. If people want to study these areas, we want to make sure that we send that signal. These are the ways that the Albanese government is making sure that we not only transform the lives of Australians but our workforce as well.

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