Emma Comer (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm proud to speak in strong support of the VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025. This bill goes to the heart of something that Labor believes in: building the skilled workforce Australia needs now and into the future. The VET Student Loans program makes vocational education and training more accessible to Australians by providing opportunities for students to undertake a VET course and defer their tuition fees through an income-contingent loan. It's a system that gives Australians from all walks of life a chance to gain qualifications in high-demand fields, from engineering and project management to occupational trades like plumbing, carpentry and electrical work. This bill ensures the system remains fair, transparent and secure.

Under the current law, students applying for a VET student loan must provide their tax file number. This is essential because, like university HECS style loans, repayments are made through the Australian tax system. The tax file number ensures that the student's loan details align with Australian Taxation Office records. However, due to a recent review of how VET student loans are administrated, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations identified a legislative grey area: the VET Student Loans Act 2016 did not explicitly authorise providers to handle tax file numbers, even though this has been a practical necessity since the beginning of this program.

The department also identified that improvements could be made to better align legislation, IT systems and privacy safeguards. We have acted to fix that. Since early 2025, updates have been made to the department's IT systems. These updates now mask students' tax file numbers and automate the secure transfer of data between student interface and government systems. This means VSL providers no longer need to directly handle tax file numbers at all.

The bill before the House today therefore does two things. It retrospectively authorises VSL providers' past handling of student tax file numbers for the purpose of administrating VET student loans and it authorises the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations's past disclosure of those tax file numbers to providers for the same purpose. This measure applies to all current and former VSL providers and their officers who handled tax file numbers between 1 January 2017 and 30 September 2025 as well as the secretary of the department, the Commissioner of Taxation and the relevant Commonwealth officers. By clarifying this legal authority, we protect both students and providers from uncertainty about past administrative processes and we reinforce confidence in the ongoing integrity of the system. Importantly, there have been no student complaints about the handling of tax file numbers under the program since its commencement in 2017. This bill simply ensures that the administrative reality of the past eight years is now aligned with the law and that the program continues to operate smoothly and securely.

While this bill is technical in nature, it speaks to something much broader: Labor's unwavering commitment to rebuilding Australia's vocational education and training system. The truth is that the VET sector is crucial for the future of Australian industries. It trains the builders who construct our homes, the electricians who power our cities, the nurses who care for us and the clean-energy workers driving our transition to a net zero future. That's why the Albanese Labor government is building Australia's future and boosting the workforce we need to deliver it. We are investing in priority occupations and creating a modern, adaptable apprenticeship system, one that's critical to our nation's future productivity and prosperity.

Labor knows apprentices are essential to Australia's growth. They're the young people and the career-changers picking up the tools, learning the trades and gaining the skills our country needs. That's why we've implemented targeted measures to ease the cost-of-living pressures for apprentices and support employers with training costs. From 1 July 2025, the government expanded the Key Apprenticeship Program to include a housing construction apprenticeship stream, offering up to $10,000 in financial incentives to new apprentices in construction, and it's already working. In just the first three months of the program we've seen 4,700 new apprentices commenced training as plumbers, electricians and carpenters.

We've also extended the Australian apprentice training support payment and the priority hiring incentive by six months to the end of 2025. These provide up to $5,000 to apprentices and employers in priority occupations. For those who relocate for work, the living away from home allowance has been increased for the first time in more than 20 years, from $77 to $120 a week for first-year apprentices and similar rises for second- and third-year apprentices. For the apprentices with disability, we've increased the disability Australian apprentice wage support payment from $104 to $216 per week, the first increase since 1998, back when I was four years old. It's time for a change. And we have scrapped unnecessary red tape that force annual rechecks.

These measures are about more than cost-of-living relief. They're about fairness, opportunity and inclusion. And we can see the results. There are currently 300,000 apprentices in training across Australia, up by 15 per cent compared to pre-COVID levels. Over the last financial year, more than 62,000 employers and 119,000 apprentices received incentive payments. Trade completions are up 8.7 per cent compared to last year and a remarkable 34 per cent compared to before the pandemic.

In Queensland, apprenticeship commencements and completions have risen steadily under Labor, particularly in construction, electrical and engineering trades. In my own electorate of Petrie, as of December 2024 there were 1,480 apprentices and trainees in training, young locals and career changes, gaining practical skills that lead to secure, well-paid work. These are people who will build our homes, wire our renewable energy systems and drive the next generation of Queensland industry.

Only Labor is the party of free TAFE. We are delivering real cost-of-living relief and valuable skills to Australians through the most significant investment in vocational education in decades. More than 685,000 Australians have already enrolled in free TAFE courses under the Albanese government. There are thousands of opportunities to get skilled and start a career in the sectors our country needs most. And almost 200,000 Australians have already completed their qualifications. That's hundreds of thousands of Australians who can now access better jobs with higher wages without being crushed by student debt. These are the skills Australia needs, and they're being taught in our TAFEs now free of charge.

For students in my electorate of Petrie, this means life-changing savings. These are real dollars staying in the pockets of local students and families, opening doors that might otherwise have stayed closed. That's what Labor's free TAFE program is about. Under Labor, free TAFE isn't a short-term pilot; it's a permanent pillar of our education system. We've locked in 100,000 free TAFE places every year from 2027, guaranteeing a pipeline of skilled workers for the future.

Labor is also delivering fairer loan arrangements for all students, whether they study at TAFE or at university. We're cutting 20 per cent off all student debt and raising the minimum repayment threshold so repayment only starts when graduates are earning more. This one-off reduction applies to over 280,000 VET student loan and Australian apprenticeship support loan accounts, cutting more than $500 million off student balances. That's real relief for apprentices, tradies and students, who keep our economy running. Labor is a party of education, whether it's TAFE or university. We believe in giving Australians every chance to succeed.

The VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025 might be a small technical bill, but it sits within a much larger Labor mission to rebuild vocational education, restore fairness and ensure that every Australian has access to skills, opportunity and secure employment. We're making sure that the VET system supports our nation's big goals, from building 1.2 million new homes to transforming our energy grid to expanding our care economy.

We're supporting more women in trades through the $60 million Building Women's Careers Program, partnering with business, industry and education institutions to create inclusive higher-paying jobs. We're reforming apprenticeships, strengthening pathways and investing in institutions that deliver quality training: our TAFEs. We know that, when Australians have the chance to learn, they have the power to build their future and our nation's future.

This bill is about good governance, ensuring that the VET student loan system remains compliant, fair and effective. But it's also about Labor's bigger story—one of investment, fairness and nation-building through education. In my electorate of Petrie, I've met apprentices training to become electricians and nurses, people retraining in the care sector and parents returning to study through free TAFE. Each one of them is building a better life because of the choices the Labor government has made. This bill ensures that their opportunities are backed by integrity and security. It is part of a broader vision: a skills system that gives every Australian the chance to learn, contribute and prosper. When we invest in skills, we invest in people. When we invest in people, we build communities. And when we build communities, we build Australia's future.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My remarks on this bill will be short. We support the bill. The work led by the shadow assistant minister for skills has been outstanding, and I commend him for his incredible work.

Tom French (Moore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every now and then a bill comes before this House that doesn't spark headlines or hashtags but quietly makes the system fairer. This is one of those bills. At its core, the VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025 is about trust in the law and our institutions and trust for the students and providers who rely on them. It fixes an ambiguity that should never have existed. It confirms that the people administering student loans did so lawfully and in good faith. And it future-proofs privacy protections, so the same uncertainty can never happen again. That's it. There's no spin and no sleight of hand. It's just the kind of measured repair work that good government does quietly and well.

When Australians apply for a VET student loan, they must include their tax file number. That's what ties the loan to their tax record and ensures repayments are made correctly through the Australian Tax Office. It's a safeguard that keeps the whole scheme honest so that the person who borrows the money is the person who pays it back. But here's the issue: the technology that made this possible moved faster than the legislation that governed it. While the law required the tax file number to make the system function, it never clearly authorised providers to handle it. For years, approved training organisations were doing exactly what the system needed them to do, entering data into secure government portals and reconciling loan information. But the authorising words in the statute weren't there. No-one acted improperly. No-one misused data. There were no complaints, no breaches and no scandals—just a gap between what the law said on paper and how the system worked in practice.

This bill closes that gap. It makes clear that everything done in good faith since 1 January 2017 was and always had been lawful, and it confirms that, from 1 October 2025, providers no longer need to handle tax file numbers at all. Earlier this year the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations finished a major technology upgrade. Student tax file numbers are now masked from view in the student loan portal and transferred automatically between government systems. That means the data never passes through the hands of training providers or their staff. It moves seamlessly and securely from the student's application to the ATO and back again. That's modern governance in action—tightening privacy, reducing risk and removing unnecessary human handling altogether. This bill doesn't create new powers or broaden access to personal information; it simply aligns the law with the secure digital systems we already have and ensures that people who are already doing their jobs—providers, Commonwealth officers and departmental staff—are protected from the technical uncertainty created by a missing line of legislative authority.

It sends a clear signal: when Labor finds something that isn't quite right, we don't bury it. We fix it, and we make it stronger for the future. From the day the VET Student Loans program began, privacy has been tightly controlled. Providers have been bound by strict information-handling rules under the VET Student Loans Act. They must meet a 'fit and proper person' test, undergo extensive approval processes and report any breach immediately. They are subject to civil penalties and even criminal offences for misuse of data. Those safeguards remain. What changes under the bill is the certainty that every past action performed in good faith and to get the student loans processed or reconciled sits squarely within the law. For the future, the system will operate with even higher privacy standards. No provider will see, store or transmit a student's tax file number. That's exactly how it should be in the digital age: minimal access, maximum protection. The bill, therefore, strengthens both integrity and confidence in our program, which has helped hundreds of thousands of Australians learn, train and work.

The principles behind the bill are simple and consistent with the values that underpin our democracy. It supports the right to education by ensuring that the VET Student Loans program continues to operate smoothly for those who already rely on it to study and upskill. It supports the right to work, by guaranteeing access to training that leads directly to secure jobs in our economy. And it protects the right to privacy, by tightening the rules so that personal information is handled only when absolutely necessary and always within the bounds of the law. That is how we maintain trust in public administration: through careful, proportionate reform that respects both the individual and the institution.

The bill may look technical, but it sits within a much larger effort of rebuilding Australia's vocational education system after its neglect. The truth is, when Labor returned to government, we inherited a skills system that had already been hollowed out. TAFE campuses were left to crumble, apprentice numbers were in freefall, and billions had been stripped from training budgets. Young Australians were told, implicitly and sometimes explicitly, that choosing a trade or a technical career was second-best. We reject that nonsense. We believe that, whether you are wiring a hospital, caring for the elderly or coding a new piece of software, your contribution matters equally to this country's future, and that's why Labor has put TAFE back at the centre of Australia's training system.

Since Labor came to office, free TAFE has delivered more than 685,000 enrolments across the nation, in early childhood education, disability care, construction and in digital technology. That's 685,000 Australians who are getting a real qualification for a real job, without the financial barrier that once kept them out. When the opposition leader was shadow minister for skills, she said, 'If you don't pay for something, you don't value it.' Well, Australians are proving her wrong every single day. They value free TAFE, because it changes lives—theirs and their family's.

In my own electorate of Moore, I've seen that transformation up close at the North Metropolitan TAFE. Under the leadership of Michelle Hoad, it's dedicated staff are training the electricians, engineers and technicians who keep Western Australia running. These people are juggling work, study and families. They're showing the same grit and determination that built this country. They deserve a government that has their back, and that's exactly what this bill represents: a government that's making sure the system that supports them is watertight and fair. When those students apply for a VET loan, they deserve to know that their personal information is safe, that their the debt is correctly recorded and that the government has done its homework.

Labor's skills agenda goes further. We're backing apprentices in every corner of the country, because they are the ones who are building the homes, the infrastructure and the clean energy projects of the future. From July 2025, the Key Apprenticeship Program was expanded to include a dedicated housing construction stream, offering up to $10,000 in incentives for new apprentices. We extended the training support payment and priority hiring incentive through to the end of 2025, providing up to $5,000 for apprentices and employers in priority occupations. We increased the living-away-from-home allowance to help young people relocate for work, and we boosted support for apprentices with disabilities by removing unnecessary red tape. Each of these measures helps someone start and finish their trade, and each of them builds a stronger, more skilled workforce for our nation.

We also understand that students and apprentices are under real cost-of-living pressures. That's why this government took decisive action to cut student debt by 20 per cent and lift the repayment threshold so that graduates begin repaying only when they can actually afford to. More than 280,000 VET and apprenticeship loan accounts will benefit from that change, representing over $500 million in debt relief. That's money that will stay in people's pockets. It's money that will help them pay rent, buy tools or simply breathe a little easier when they build their future. It's another example of a government that understands what fairness looks like in practice.

This bill also reinforces something deeper—confidence in the government itself. That's because, when citizens see their government fixing problems quietly and properly rather than ignoring them or playing politics with them, it strengthens faith in every other reform we deliver. This is responsible lawmaking—no fanfare and no finger-pointing, just solid, careful work that keeps our systems strong.

Those opposites might prefer a headline; we prefer results. They might treat governance as theatre; we treat it as service. Service means doing the unglamorous work of tightening a definition, updating a system or closing a legal loophole so that the whole machine runs as it should. That's what this bill does. It ensures that every form lodged, every record kept and every repayment made under the VET Student Loans program sits securely on the right side of the law. It's easy sometimes to think of legislation like this is as dry or technical. but behind every data point and clause is a person—a mature-age student retraining after a redundancy, an apprentice starting their first job in the trades or a single parent studying nursing to re-enter the workforce. They are the reason this program exists. They are the reason we make sure every part of it, from the online form to the privacy settings, works flawlessly. When we get these details right, we're not just fixing a database; we are reaffirming the social contract that government will look after people who put in the effort to better themselves. That's something Labor will always stand for.

I often think that good government is a bit like good wiring. You don't notice it when it's done well; it just works. This bill is the wiring behind a much larger system. It's the quiet work that keeps the lights on, literally and figuratively, for the thousands of students who rely on VET loans every year. It shows that we take responsibility seriously. When we find a problem, we own it, we fix it and we make sure that it never happens again. That's what separates governing from posturing.

So, yes, this bill is small. It won't make the evening news. But its impact will last. It strengthens privacy, validates the good-faith actions of people who did their job, modernises the administration of student loans and reinforces the integrity of one of the most important programs in our education system. It gives students confidence that their personal information is safe, it gives providers certainty that they are operating within the law and it gives the Australian people proof that their government is paying attention to even to the fine print.

The VET sector is one of the great engines of national opportunity. It changes lives, opens doors and drives innovation. By maintaining integrity and trust in the systems that support it, this bill will help ensure that opportunity endures. It may be modest, but it's meaningful. It is, in every sense, what good government looks like—practical, careful and built to last. I commend the bill to the House.

Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am always delighted and pleased to be able to have the opportunity to talk about vocational education and training. That's not just because in my electorate on Brisbane's southside we are home to the flagship Acacia Ridge TAFE, but it does give me a little bit of an opportunity to brag about it, because it's something we are very proud of in the electorate of Moreton. It's the largest trade training centre not just in Brisbane, not just in Queensland and not just in Australia but in the entire Southern Hemisphere. I had the great pleasure of being able to host the Deputy Prime Minister when we tried out dino chassis behind the wheel of a car. I've had the great pleasure of hosting Mr Giles, working through how battery technology works and talking to the students about their experiences at their TAFE.

The Acacia Ridge campus is 22 hectares of purpose-built, state-of-the-art training facilities. I always enjoy visiting there because it's a hive of activity. It offers a wide range of trade related courses in automotives, building construction, electrotechnology, engineering, manufacturing and design, resources and mining, transport and utilities. It's all about making sure that we are giving people, many of them young people, access to the skills that we as a nation need for the future. The VET sector delivers vital industry-specific skills and qualifications across all of these fields and many more—helping to boost economic development, helping to enhance business efficiency and helping to tackle workforce skills gaps. The Labor government is supporting people to do that.

We're supporting people to learn, we're supporting people to train, we're supporting people to work and we're supporting people to gain skills that will make their lives better and that will make our country better. We're supporting them to be the people who make the things that we need, we're supporting them to be the people who build the homes and houses that we need and we're supporting them to be the people to care for our loved ones in an ageing population. Data from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research from September 2024 indicated that 5.1 million students took part in nationally recognised training in 2023, which is a 10.8 per cent increase from 2022. What that means is that we have more Australians—in my part of the world, more southsiders—who have pathways to skilling, pathways to a future, pathways to job security and pathways to ensuring that they not only have jobs but have good jobs.

Of this number 3.5 million students studied standalone subjects. Over 2.1 million gained full qualifications and 230,000 completed short courses. This is about the skills that our country needs and, contrary to what you might hear, it is working people—particularly those who have been trained just as in Acacia Ridge—who drive our economy. It is the working people who grow our economy. It is the working people who make sure that our economy is moving forward. Many of these students were able to study thanks to the VET Student Loans, VSL, program. This program supports eligible students to cover tuition fees for approved higher level—such as diplomas and above—VET courses at approved providers. The aim of the program is to promote courses and to grow the workforce in areas that align with industry needs, with what our country needs and with what business needs. The VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025 concerns the administration of these loans.

This bill addresses an issue with the administration of VET student loans which was identified during a recent review. It concerns the handling of students' tax file numbers and the fact that the VET Student Loans Act 2016 does not authorise VSL providers to handle tax file numbers. VSL providers are registered training organisations which are authorised by the Australian government to deliver VSL approved courses. They may be TAFE institutions or private providers. Tax file numbers are necessary for the administration of student loan programs such as VSL. They're used to accurately link loan accounts to individuals within the taxation system, enabling precise tracking of loan balances and repayments over time. It is important to note that there is no knowledge of tax file number misuse throughout the administration of the VSL program. Similarly there have been no student complaints in regard to the tax file number administration.

Nonetheless the Albanese Labor government is taking swift action to resolve this challenge. We want both students and VET providers to have certainty and to have confidence in the administration of their loans. The bill enables the retrospective authorisation of VSL providers' handling of students' tax file numbers. This will also give providers and government alike certainty that the administration of the loans between 1 January 2017 and 30 September 2025 was lawful.

Since early 2025 the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has implemented a series of enhancements to its IT infrastructure aimed at improving the security and efficiency of handling sensitive personal data. One of the key changes involves the automatic masking of tax file numbers from VET student loan providers. This update ensures that providers no longer have access to, or need to, manage tax file numbers directly. The transfer of this information between relevant government systems is now fully automated. By streamlining the handling of tax file numbers and removing the need for providers to process them, the department has strengthened data privacy protections while maintaining the integrity of the loan management process. Importantly, these system updates do not affect the way students apply for a VET student loan. The application process through the electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form remains unchanged, ensuring a familiar experience for students seeking financial support for their training.

VSL providers are subject to a range of robust scrutiny measures and integrity protocols embedded within the relevant IT systems. These controls are designed to safeguard students' personal information and ensure that providers operate within a secure and compliant framework. Before being granted approval to administer VSLs, providers must complete comprehensive vetting procedures, ensuring that only qualified institutions are permitted to participate in the program. Providers are required to adhere to several key obligations. These include strict compliance with legislation. Providers must follow stringent rules regarding the use and disclosure of information as outlined in the VET Student Loans Act. VSL providers are also subject to mandatory breach reporting. In the event of any data breach involving student information, providers are obligated to promptly notify the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. This requirement supports transparency and enables swift action to mitigate potential harm.

Importantly, the data protection standards that have historically governed the handling of TFNs by VSL providers will remain in effect following the commencement of the new bill. These ongoing safeguards reinforce the government's commitment to maintaining high levels of privacy and data security within the VET student loans framework. The Albanese Labor government has invested $42 million over four years from July 2023 to help develop a fit-for-purpose VSL IT system. This means that, from 2026, the VSL program will be bolstered by a new assessments and payment system. This is just one way that Labor stands behind the VET sector.

One of Labor's key election promises was to cut student debt by 20 per cent. In fact, we promised it would be the first piece of legislation we brought to this parliament, and it was. The result is, of course, that three million Australians with student debt will have 20 per cent of their debt wiped, gone. This includes students with VSL program debts.

When we think about the contrast between the Albanese Labor government and those opposite, what becomes clear is that, when it comes to TAFE and vocational education and training, we are focused on delivering for students—not just through this bill but through taking 20 per cent off people's debt and through free TAFE. We know that those opposite do not support free TAFE. While we're focused on delivering, the only thing that the opposition has done when it comes to students is to say no: 'No, we cannot give you that cost-of-living relief,' and, 'No, you cannot have 20 per cent off your student debt that will help set you up for the future.'

We've made TAFE free and we've made that permanent nationwide. This provides cost-of-living support to more Australians to get the qualifications they want for the jobs our economy desperately needs. Free TAFE will boost Australia's workforce by training more tradies and construction workers to build more homes, and more nurses and more healthcare workers to look after our loved ones. From January 2023 to June this year, 128,231 people in Queensland alone had taken up the opportunity to upskill for free. Across the country, thousands of students have flocked to courses such as the Cert IV in Building and Construction, the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care, the Cert IV in Cyber Security, the Cert III in Individual Support, the Diploma of Nursing and the Cert III in Horticulture.

A February 2025 report from Jobs and Skills Australia, Opportunity and productivity: towards a tertiary harmonisation roadmap, indicates that a more integrated and coordinated tertiary education system has the potential to enhance workforce productivity, elevate skill levels across the industries that we're talking about and support the development of a future-ready workforce that meets the industry demands. Our government has invested $27.7 million dollars to support the development of a more aligned tertiary education system. This includes developing better student pathways by clarifying recognition of prior learning and streamlining regulation for dual-sector providers. Through the National Skills Agreement, the government has partnered with states and territories to establish nationally networked TAFE Centres of Excellence. These partnerships among TAFEs, university and industry will deliver the skilled workers and the skilled workforce for critical industries. An example in Queensland is the TAFE Centre of Excellence Clean Energy Batteries. The focus will be on targeted training solutions in renewable energy batteries, intermittent renewable energy source storage, grid connectivity—

Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Excuse me, member for Moreton—if you could just take your seat. It being 1:30 pm, the Federation Chamber is suspended until 4 pm today.

Sitting suspended from 13:31 to 16:00

Debate adjourned.