Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Skills and Training. How is the Albanese Labor government supporting TAFE students across Australia with the cost of living as they train for the jobs that we need?

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank my friend the member for Hasluck for her question. It was fantastic to be with her in her electorate last week to open the brand-new clean energy training facilities at Midland TAFE, something she fought for and won. It was also great to hear from local students about how much they value the opportunities that free TAFE is providing them.

The Albanese government has put TAFE back at the heart of skills and training because it belongs there and always should've belonged there. We're backing in the hard work of TAFE students like those that the member for Hasluck and I met last week, and their amazing teachers too, by updating TAFE facilities through our government's TAFE Technology Fund, which includes $3.24 million for Midland. Great Western Australian students like Timothy, Brock and Kudakwashe are benefiting from our investment.

It's not only facilities that we're rolling out for TAFE students that the member may be interested in hearing about. Our government is also rolling out cost-of-living relief to ensure that Australians can get the skills they want for the jobs that we need. Australian apprentices and VET students are among those around the country hearing from the ATO about the Albanese government's 20 per cent cut to student debt that's being applied to their accounts right now. That's thousands of dollars that many of these students are saving on student debt. This is a pretty special bit of news to those of us on this side of the House and those millions of Australians anyway, news that we're proud to deliver because we know it makes a big difference in the lives of Australians.

But, of course, that's not all. Free TAFE is reaching new heights. There are now more than 725,000 free TAFE enrolments—725,000—and more than 210,000 course completions. The Minister for Housing will be pleased to know that construction courses are now the third most popular type of free TAFE courses, with more than 59,000 enrolments, people going on to build the houses Australians need, including CIT students the Prime Minister and I met with today—Yao, Ruby and Josh. It's people like them, together with more nurses to care for Australians and more early childhood educators, too. This is why our government made free TAFE permanent.

But the Leader of the Opposition and members opposite don't like free TAFE. We know the Leader of the Opposition and her coalition will talk it down at every opportunity, ignoring the stories—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will pause. Order! Members on my left, I want to hear from the Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's on relevance. The member for Hasluck asked one of the tightest questions I might have seen in my time here, very tightly framed and directly to the government's achievements. I'd ask the minister to answer the question, not refer to the opposition.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I agree with the manager. He wasn't asked anything about the opposition. So return back to the question and refrain from the comments you were making.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've been talking about the 725,000 enrolments in free TAFE and 210,000 course completions. These are thousands of Australians who, if it wasn't for free TAFE, wouldn't have been able to take up their opportunities. While the Liberals are concerned with distraction and division, we are getting on with the job and delivering for Australians, rebuilding TAFE—debt relief and free TAFE.