Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today has been a great day to discuss vocational education. Not only is it National TAFE Day and not only did I have the pleasure of meeting fantastic representatives of TAFE: Phillip Smith, a TAFE teacher from Victoria; Valerie Lester, a parent and TAFE teacher from Victoria; and Alanna Dennien, an apprentice and TAFE student from Queensland who is studying heavy diesel mechanics—I don't know if Alanna is in the gallery yet, but she is going to take over the world, I reckon; she's a fantastic young woman—but earlier today we had the first meeting of Labor's post-secondary school review, where we're talking about the type of TAFE system and the type of university system that Australia needs for the future. We're casting forward to think about what the workforce of 2040 will be like. Children born this year will experience a whole different world of work to the one that we are looking at today: different jobs, different skills needed and different knowledge. Certainly, they will need genuine lifelong learning with upgrading and updating of skills and knowledge right through their working lives, and TAFE is in a position to do that if we get the funding right. Those opposite have cut $3 billion from TAFE and apprenticeships and training since coming to government and there are 140,000 fewer apprentices today than when they came to office. We have to protect and value TAFE, not destroy it.