Cassandra Fernando (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move the motion relating to the National Skills Agreement in the terms in which it appears on the Notice Paper:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that the Government inherited the most severe skill shortages in half a century, after a decade of neglect and an absence of any national skills agreement;

(2) recognises the Government for securing the landmark five-year National Skills Agreement, giving Australians easier access to training no matter where they live;

(3) emphasises that the agreement resets how Australia plans, funds and delivers vocational education and training, backed by $12.6 billion over five years, including $3.7 billion in additional funding to strengthen the skills system;

(4) observes that the Government's training reform and investment is delivering real outcomes, with national skills shortages easing over three consecutive years, and occupations in shortage falling from 36 per cent in 2023, to 33 per cent in 2024, and 29 per cent in 2025; and

(5) commends the Government's efforts to support Australians to upskill and reskill so more Australians get qualified for well-paid jobs in the sectors that employers and industries need including housing, care and support services, clean energy and digital capability.

TAFE is fundamental to the future of our nation. It is a vital component of our tertiary education system, equipping Australians with the hands-on practical skills our economy depends on. As a proud graduate of TAFE, I know first-hand how vocational qualification can empower people and unlock opportunities that may once have felt out of reach. TAFE changes lives. It opens doors because, let's be honest, university does not suit all of us. For many Australians, learning practical job-ready skills aligns far better with how we learn than sitting in a lecture theatre all day.

There should be no hierarchy when it comes to education. A skilled tradesperson is just as vital to our nation's prosperity as any other profession. The Albanese Labor government recognises this. After a decade of underinvestment in vocational education by the Liberal and National parties, Australia faced growing skill shortages in crucial fields such as construction, aged care and nursing. Communities felt the consequences. Housing supply fell behind demand, infrastructure projects slowed, and vulnerable Australians struggled to find qualified care workers. That is why we were elected. We committed to rebuilding TAFE and restoring it as a national priority.

In 2023, we delivered the National Skills Agreement, a landmark five-year partnership with every state and territory to invest $12.6 billion into vocational education and training, and the results are already clear. Skill shortages have fallen every single year since then, from 36 per cent in 2023 to 29 per cent in 2025. Labor has also committed more than 100,000 free TAFE places each year across the country. While the Liberal Party dismissed this as wasteful spending, more than 725,000 Australians have enrolled. Know how life changing this can be. Research shows that students who complete a vocational education can earn a median income $11,800 higher in the year after finishing their course. This is not wasteful; this is transformational. This is the difference between getting by and getting ahead.

We have also strengthened the pipeline of construction workers through support for apprentices. More than 11,400 apprentices have already commenced trades under our $10,000 Key Apprenticeship Program. Each of these apprentices is not just training for a career; they are the workers who will build the very homes Australia so urgently needs. Every apprentice represents another step forward in addressing our longstanding housing shortage.

So I ask those opposite: how can you stand in this House and call opportunities wasteful? How can removing barriers to education and helping Australians secure stable employment possibly be anything other than responsible nation building? But perhaps this is the difference between the Liberal Party and Labor. Those opposites see costs; we see investment. They see spending; we see opportunities. They look at the past; we are building Australia's future.

The National Skills Agreement is about ensuring Australians have the skills our nation needs. It's about productivity. It is about prosperity and, better yet, it's about fairness. That is why I am so proud to stand with a party that will always invest in our TAFE sector.

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

Is there a seconder for the motion?

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

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When we left office there were 415,000 trainees and apprentices in the system. Today, after four years of Labor, there are over 107,000 fewer. That's the reality of bringing this motion to the House. The track record of Labor in apprenticeships and training is so appalling, and I'm going to spell it out for every one in the room.

Before I do that, the speaker just before said she was proud of her productivity rates under Labor. They're some of the lowest in the world, in the OECD. The productivity rates in Australia at the moment are nothing to be proud of. But Labor will, of course, take credit for that. She spoke about how they see TAFE investment as responsible spending. I'm going to share with the room some of the completion rates in the TAFE system as opposed to the private sector, and they are in stark contrast.

I've outlined that we had 415,000 trainees and apprentices in the system when we left. There are 107,000 fewer today. By 2027, it is forecast that we will be 300,000 skilled tradesmen short to meet not only our Olympics bid but just the day-to-day infrastructure required. Look at the housing situation we've got at the moment. When we were in office, the Housing Industry Association state that house construction was around 200,000 to 220,000 a year. A simple Google search will confirm that today, under Labor, it's 170,000 on average. If you listen to their ambitious targets about housing constructs, on average they need around 255,000 now to meet their target. Without the skilled tradespeople coming into the system, we'll just never get there. We will never get there.

So, rightfully, Labor have taken on a very aggressive immigration position where they've got 1.2 million extra migrants in the country. That's not to mention we're not too sure where all of them will live, and that is putting pressure on our housing sector. But that's not a debate for today. I want to stay in the skills shortage area. You would have thought, with all those extra migrants coming in, that that would have dealt with the shortage, but it's only expanded the problem. We need to have migration, but it needs to be targeted migration.

But the unions will not have it. They won't bring the electricians in. They won't bring the chippies in. They won't bring any of them into the country. Instead we have this inflationary pressure whereby the RBA was forced to push up interest rates the other day because the cost of housing is going up. The RBA's data the other day factored in 21.7 per cent in private sector demand. So we've got skills down and immigration up, and these guys—Labor—come into the House and say, 'We're going to fix it all with the TAFE system and we're going to throw a bucketload of money at it.'

I asked one of the peak bodies today, before coming in, to send me what they think the issue is. They were quite adamant. They said that whenever either government, us or Labor—and Labor do this more often than we do—take the financial incentives away from the employer the apprenticeship numbers and training numbers fall off a cliff. We used to partner with small business to the tune of around $8,000 to help subsidise a skilled tradesperson, an apprentice or a trainee. Labor were at $4,000, and we got them up to $5,000, kicking and screaming. But the only way we're going to fix this skilled labour issue is to partner with small business, and everyone knows Labor hates small business. (Time expired)

Jo Briskey (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge the member for Holt for bringing forward this motion for debate. I'm proud to speak on a topic that not only is close to my heart but is absolutely foundational to the communities I represent in Maribyrnong: the future of our national skills and training system. When I'm out in my community chatting with locals, the conversations are almost always about two things: the cost of living and the pressure that people are under, and opportunity. People in Melbourne's north-west are aspirational. They want to know that their children can access a secure, well-paid and fulfilling career. They want to know that if they need to pivot mid-career the door to retraining is open. They want to know that the bridge between education and a better life is strong.

But for 10 long years, under the previous coalition government, that bridge was allowed to crumble. We didn't accidentally inherit a skills shortage in 2022; we inherited a decade of deliberate ideological neglect. We saw TAFE campuses stripped of their funding, instructors pushed to their breaking point and a vocational system that was treated like a second-class option. Those opposite sat idly by while the National Skills Agreement lapsed and our workforce planning fell into disarray. They viewed TAFE as a line item in a budget to be cut rather than an engine to be fuelled.

This government has stopped the rot and started to rebuild. We recognise a fundamental truth that those opposite have never been able to grasp: You cannot solve a housing crisis without the carpenters, plumbers and electricians to build the homes. You cannot ease pressure on our healthcare system without a steady pipeline of nurses and carers. You cannot navigate a global energy transition without the workforce that's capable of rewiring the nation. And you cannot build Australia's future with a weakened VET sector.

That is why we are backing our future tradies with real, direct support. Through our Key Apprenticeship Program we are providing $10,000 incentive payments for apprentices in the construction and clean energy sectors. This is a $2,000 boost every year of their training and a final payment upon completion. It is designed to help our young people stay in their trade, to manage cost of living and to get the tools they need to build the 1.2 million homes Australia needs.

This work goes hand in hand with our landmark five-year National Skills Agreement. This is a historic reset. For the first time we have a unified national plan, a shared stewardship model that ensures that the Commonwealth and the states are finally moving in the same direction. The results of this serious, methodical approach are already visible. Under our watch, workers in occupations where there was once short supply have steadily increased. This is what happens when you treat TAFE as an essential cog in our economy. By legislating free TAFE as a permanent fixture of our education landscape, we have removed the financial barriers that once locked capable Australians out of the workforce. We have delivered close to 600,000 places, ensuring that 'fee free' isn't just a slogan, but a permanent statutory right for Australians.

In my electorate of Maribyrnong, the Kangan Institute in Essendon stands as a shining example of this transformation. I have visited the Essendon Health Hub many times, and the energy there is infectious. The campus is a vital pipeline for our healthcare sector, training the nurses and health service assistants who will look after us and our families.

But our success requires more than just a classroom. It requires a sense of security. For too long, students in high-pressure fields like nursing and social work have faced the crushing reality of placement poverty. They're expected to work hundreds of hours in mandatory clinical placements while somehow still paying the rent and putting food on the table. That is why our Commonwealth prac payment is a landmark reform. As of this year, 2026, we are providing $338.60 per week to eligible students while they are on prac. This isn't just a payment; it's a statement of respect. It ensures that a nursing student at Kangan isn't forced to choose between completing their degree or being able to afford their groceries.

The contrast in this place is stark. Those opposite spent a decade taking a sledgehammer to TAFE; we have restored it as a vital part of our economy and education system. We are training the tradies who will build our future suburbs and towns. We have moved past the years of neglect; we are now in an era of delivering. I commend the motion to the House.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

National agreements are important, but national action is what is needed. The Jobs and Skills Australia occupation short-list in October 2025 saw that 29 per cent of assessed occupations are in shortage nationwide. Half of the occupations in shortage were technicians and trades relating to construction, engineering and automotive trades.

Infrastructure Australia said that construction workforce shortage for major project pipelines is 141,000 short of what is needed, and this shortage is expected to peak at 300,000 in 2027—only a year away. The shortage in regional areas is forecast to quadruple between last year, 2025, and 2027.

A report that was released in December 2025 said the number of apprentices and trainees in training contracts decreased by 11.3 per cent on the previous year. So did the number of trade contracts, by seven per cent. This should be ringing alarm bells for every single person in this place. Commencement in trade occupations declined by 29 per cent. Surely, we must do better. This is going to affect every single Australian.

Young people leaving school face a 10 per cent unemployment rate, and an underemployment rate of 17 per cent. There are lots of them in casual roles as baristas, but there are not enough being plumbers, being electricians, being sparkies. In past years, governments were the largest trainers of apprentices. Now we expect the private sector to do this. Back in the nineties, it was governments—federal and state—that would be the largest apprentice employers. Not anymore, but we've made it so difficult for small businesses to take on an apprentice. It is just too cumbersome and the rewards aren't there. It costs money for a small business, in those first couple of years, to have an apprentice. It's a massive investment for that business, and businesses are really struggling right now. There are so many expenses they just can't take apprentices on. No wonder we have a 29 per cent drop.

If we look at Roy Morgan Research from last November, it said the real unemployment rate in Australia, which included people looking for work, not just those currently counted as underemployed by the ABS, was approximately 1.63 million Australians, and the underemployment rate was around three million Australians, those who just don't have enough hours of work and would like more.

In 2024, according to ACOSS, more than 550,000 people who were receiving income support had been receiving it for more than a year, and 417,000—around 45 per cent of them—were aged 55 to 66. We know that for every one entry-level job, there are 25 long-term unemployed Australians who are competing for it. And yet, we are not addressing this. Most providers won't even work with a person to get a certificate III to get into those entry-level jobs that we desperately need for aged care or child care. You can't just walk into those jobs. You can't just say, 'I'm keen'; you need to have qualifications. Yet we have a system to work with unemployed Australians that doesn't fix the two together. There's a massive disconnect.

COTA last week reported that gen X, my generation, are experiencing discrimination in the workforce, and 25 per cent of older Australians are living in poverty. We discourage aged pensioners, many of whom would love to be continuing in the workforce, by charging them 50c in the dollar over a very low threshold when they're on the pension. This is contributing to the culture of ageism and we need to address this.

National Seniors say a five per cent increase in older people working would increase our GDP by $47 billion. So what do we need to do? There are a few things government needs to do. We need to focus on employing Australians of all ages first, not focus on importing people for roles. We need to invest in our own people. We need to provide real incentives for small businesses. We don't do that at the moment. If we want them to have trainees, if we want them to have apprentices, we need to help them. We're not doing it. We need to address ageist discrimination and this starts with government. We need to change the narrative. We need to allow pensioners to work without penalty. They have so much to give and they are being short-changed by us. And we need to invest in training and skills that will ensure people gain meaningful employment to ensure that we don't just have this churn of unemployed people. We have jobs, we have the people, so we need to marry the two together. We need to do much better than what we're doing now.

Rowan Holzberger (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm going after a couple of contributions there. Member for Mayo, even though I disagree with a lot of what you were saying there in terms of us not doing things, I appreciate the constructive contribution that you made there. Australians just want to see us working. Australians just want to see us working together, which is I don't think what we got from my neighbour, the member for Wright, who displayed a spectacular lack of self-reflection by blaming all of the problems on the system, by blaming all of the problems on housing on this government when those opposite had 10 years and they did absolutely nothing. In fact, all they managed to do was leave us with the biggest skill shortage in over 50 years. I know that because I was out there working in the community when the housing crisis really hit while they were in government. So for those opposite to try and say that it was us that was responsible, I suppose in many ways shows really that skills may not be the most interesting area of government but it is one of the most clear examples of the difference in values between the government and between the coalition, between a government that believes in free TAFE as being a force to liberate the entrepreneurial aspirations of future carpenters and plumbers compared to how the opposition sees it when the member for Cook in this very chamber, the Federation Chamber, described free TAFE as virtue signalling.

The problems that we have today are different from the problems that I had when I was living in the member for Parkes' electorate in Broken Hill, where I come from, where I desperately wanted to do an apprenticeship as a fitter and machinist. Unfortunately, I only ever got to the level of breaking things and not being able to fix things at Procraft. I'm not sure if Procraft still exists—the mining contractor—but I desperately wanted to be an apprentice machinist. I didn't make the grade and, because unemployment in Broken Hill during that time in the nineties was running at about 20 per cent, I was easily replaced.

Well, we've got a completely different economy now. There is no way that you can easily replace somebody who has the will to become an apprentice, so there is an opportunity here to train the people for the future. There are two things that I'd like to say here. One is that I believe very strongly through my own experience in small business that there are two ways to run a small business. You can invest in your plant and your people—improve the productive capacity of that business—or you can run it into the ground, you can strip the profits out and you can delay the investment. Just as you run a business, so you run the country. Whereas the government believes in investing in that to improve that productive capacity, the opposition has believed in delaying those investments and stripping the profits out. Unfortunately, we have seen the country run into the ground.

When I look at this motion, I find it impossible, really, to disagree with. These are facts here—the fact that we were left with the biggest skills shortage in more than half a century; the fact that we have secured a landmark five-year national skills agreement; the fact that we have reset how Australia plans, funds and delivers vocational education and training; the fact that you can see the proof in three statistics. From 2023 through 2024 to 2025, we have seen the shortages falling from 36 per cent to 33 per cent to 29 per cent. These are measurable returns on the investment that we are making in the National Skills Agreement, the heart of which really has to be free TAFE. Again, that's showing the values differences between the government and the opposition, knowing that we can invest in our people through free TAFE, that it is not a cost and that it is certainly not virtue signalling.

When you look at the areas that the government is focusing on—housing, care and support services, and clean energy—that really does, I think, sum up the other thing that I'd like to say, which is that Australia's post-war economic miracle was an investment in public housing and an investment in public energy. Getting those skills together in those two critical areas is not only going to give individuals a great future and a secure job but going to secure the productive capacity of our economy and Australia's future.

Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I passionately believe that your postcode shouldn't determine your potential, and there's no more important area in my electorate of Monash than higher education skills and improving higher education outcomes for my community. In 2011 I had the privilege of serving on the Gippsland Tertiary Education Council, and that followed on from some very important work that was initiated through the Gippsland Tertiary Education Plan, which was chaired and undertaken by Kwong Lee Dow, former vice-chancellor of Monash University. I reflect on that time to now, and some of those findings and imperatives remain just as true today as they were in 2011.

There are barriers to education and higher education outcomes in my electorate that existed back then and still exist today, and they centre around a lack of access. Public transport, particularly for those communities in South Gippsland and the Bass Coast, which are not on the train line, acts is a real barrier to university and TAFE in the Gippsland region. Lack of access to child care for a lot of young people trying to further their education and skills outcomes is something that we still desperately need to address. For small businesses that want to give young people a go through apprenticeships, those cost barriers are still prohibitive. Those things, today, are areas which this federal government need to better address in my region just as they need to address them in regional communities right across Australia.

I do want to give a shout-out to local organisations that are really putting their best foot forward in supporting young people. I've met with TAFE Gippsland a number of times. They are doing really important work to help drive jobs and skills outcomes that benefit our whole region across a number of areas. They're working very well with local employers to support that. I also want to give a shout-out to local LENs—the Baw Baw LLEN and the South Gippsland Bass Coast LLEN. They will go along to local skills and job fairs from Leongatha to Lardner Park. I attended one in Leongatha last year. Those local LENs do a great job of supporting job applicants with CV-checking and with their skills forums, and I want to encourage them to continue to do that.

There are a number of other barriers that people in my electorate face. I want to read out an email from a constituent that I received recently:

Hi, my name is Brett, I am a 30 year old plumber studying a Diploma of Building in construction to enable my career progression and provide better for my family.

My issue I want to discuss is the lack of access to Critical study materials for students, Apprentices, Trades and other industry professionals.

Brett goes on to say that, while there's been a focus on access to TAFE, the cost-prohibitive areas actually relate to Brett's study materials—critical information, books and other areas. He cites some examples: masonry and small buildings, $261; concrete structures, $387; and residential slabs and footing, $347. I could go on, but Brett's point is very well made.

The other issue that I want to draw to this as an example is an email that I got recently from Trudy, who is a mum in my electorate who wrote to me about the impact that her kids are experiencing. Trudy wrote to me: 'As parents of three young adults who are all wishing to move to Melbourne for university, the financial stress is immense. I've looked at the details for both youth allowance and relocation allowance. We had zero financial assistance for our now 22-year-old, who is now living in Melbourne, hand to mouth, in a rental. Our 19-year-old deferred and so won't be eligible for the relocation allowance, and our youngest may be eligible for $3,000, being from inner regional Inverloch the means testing of our combined incomes needs to be under $62½ thousand dollars to qualify for youth allowance as a dependent, and I believe it's completely unfair that the same rule applies for Melbourne young people as it does for regional young people.' And so Trudy provides a really good example where, unfortunately, your postcode is determining your potential for higher education outcomes and skills access under this federal government, who don't support people from regional communities and who don't recognise the additional burdens and challenges of young people who want to get ahead and want to get skills and education attainment. They're not getting a fair go under this federal government.

Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia is building and growing, South Australia is building and growing and my electorate of Sturt is also building and growing. Whether it be the Osborne Shipyard, home to the future build of the AUKUS SSN class submarines, the landmark housing developments in the northern and inner-city parts of Adelaide, the new Women's and Children's Hospital or the Torrens to Darlington Road upgrade, South Australia is building. The hospital, houses, roads and submarines do not build themselves. Skilled workers build them, and skilled workers educate the children of those workers who are doing the building. Skilled workers care for the ageing parents of those workers who are doing the building. South Australia may be the beating heart of AUKUS, but AUKUS is a national endeavour requiring effort and dedication across the country, and programs like AUKUS, so critical for our national security and our prosperity, require a skilled workforce.

That is why the Albanese Labor government is bringing states and territories together to improve vocational education and training and build the skilled workforce our country needs for the future. Skills shortages will leave our country behind, and that is why this future-focused government has prosecuted the National Skills Agreement, which was designed to directly target industries with the most critical skill shortages. This five-year agreement releasing up to $34 billion to strengthen the VET system is a landmark investment in productivity and future economic security. The data tells us that the percentage of occupations suffering from a skill shortage has dropped to 29 per cent in 2025 from 36 per cent in 2023. Skills shortages in these critical industries are at their lowest level in three years, and these industries are critical. They are housing, care, support services, clean energy and digital capability.

The National Skills Agreement is not just a bucket of funding; it is a complete reset of how the future workforce is trained for these critical industries. Since 1 January 2024, $135 million in policy funding has been paid to the states and territories and $225 million has been announced through the National Skills Agreement to be matched by the states and territories to establish 14 TAFE centres of excellence, which are central to delivering a refreshed and strengthened VET sector. In my home state of South Australia, TAFE SA is leading with the Centre of Excellence in Early Childhood Education and Care and with the National Security TAFE Centre of Excellence in a joint initiative between the Australian government and the South Australian government. A key feature of these TAFE centres of excellence is the partnerships they are fostering with university, industry, unions, jobs and skills councils, and other TAFEs across Australia. Partnerships with industry are particularly important, because it is these partnerships that lead to work-ready graduates who are not just highly skilled in their field but are ready to hit the ground running from day one.

Labor is the party of skills, and Labor is also the party of free TAFE. It is not true that, if you receive something for free, you don't value it. Ask the 725,000 students, 62 per cent of whom are women, who have enrolled in free TAFE places, including the 24,000 in my electorate of Sturt, whether they value the opportunity to achieve a meaningful qualification that will lead to a well-paid, secure job in a critical industry. They value it. Ask the students who typically face barriers to education and training—such as women, economically disadvantaged students and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons—whether they value the opportunity to participate in the education system, then participate in the paid workforce, providing a better life for their families and doing something for themselves. They value it. And ask everyday, reasonable Australians whether they value having highly-skilled workers to build the houses we urgently need, to educate young children, to care for elderly family members, to assist in the transition to renewable energy, and to contribute to the largest defence project in Australian history with transformative, generational opportunity for industrial and strategic advancement. Australians value it. Free TAFE is valued by all who touch it and all who directly or indirectly benefit from it.

Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion brought by the member for Holt. I understand that the government would like to trumpet its success in securing what it calls a landmark agreement and to point to percentage drops in national skills shortages. But the young people and small businesses of Fowler are experiencing something quite different. We've heard today that the National Skills Agreement supposedly gives Australians easier access to training no matter where they live. But the people in my electorate—one of the most diverse and socioeconomically challenged in the country—beg to differ.

Let's look at the one of the blind spots that this motion and the National Skills Agreement ignore. This is not just about providing a classroom to teach the next generation of trainees and apprentices; it's about backing the small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses at the heart of our community so that they can actually employ them. Manufacturing is the lifeblood of Fowler, employing around 12 to 18 per cent of local workers—roughly double the national share of about six per cent. These are not giant government-subsidised corporations. They are small and medium-sized family and migrant owned businesses, in light manufacturing and food production—the places that have given generations of migrants and refugees their very first job. They are the backbone of our local economy.

In Fowler, we especially need more trainees and apprentices in manufacturing, construction, care, logistics and the service sector—exactly the industries that keep Western Sydney's economy running every day. The government talks about billions in funding, yet the lion's share is funnelled into institutions like TAFE—which is fine, but our small local businesses are left to fend for themselves. How can a small business in Liverpool or Fairfield take on an apprentice when they are being smashed by rising energy costs, rent, insurance and of course other compliance costs as well?

The government might be funding the classroom, but it's failing to support the workshop floor, where the real learning happens, in my community. There's a lot of talk about easing skills shortages, and that should absolutely be a national priority. But you cannot fix a shortage with a revolving door. Nationally, almost half of apprentices do not finish their training. That alone tells us that the current system is not working for our young people or for employers. Our young people are facing a cost-of-living firestorm. When entry-level apprentice wages are so low that a young person can't help their parents pay the rent, the mortgage or the power bill, they walk away. They take casual, low-skilled jobs, just to keep the family afloat. This agreement does nothing practical to deal with that reality on the ground in places like Fowler.

We also hear a lot about equal access, but this agreement barely acknowledges the unique realities of south-west Sydney. Many of our residents speak a language other than English at home. They're not sitting on government websites reading media releases about fee-free TAFE. For them, navigating complex application forms, online portals and bureaucratic language can be overwhelming. If outreach is not targeted, multilingual and truly place based, communities like mine will be left behind yet again.

Last year, the minister announced $20 million for a new energy skills centre in western Melbourne and $35 million to expand clean energy training, promising that apprentices in clean energy and housing construction could be eligible for up to $10,000 in support. I welcome that investment, but I have to ask: What about apprentices who want to build a future in other sectors like local manufacturing, food production, logistics or care work, which employ so many people in Fowler? What about those in south-west Sydney for whom travelling to those specialist hubs is simply not realistic or affordable? Investment in one sector cannot come at the expense of others, and it cannot ignore where people actually live and work.

Training in my community is more than just turning up to a couple of classes or ticking a box on a course. For young people in Fowler, it's about whether they can afford the train fare, whether there is child care for their younger siblings or their own children and whether they have a mentor who understands their culture, language and family responsibilities. The National Skills Agreement, as it stands, misses the primary industry base of my electorate and the day to day barriers faced by my community. What should be an equal opportunity for anyone wanting to upskill has yet again fallen short for the young people of Fowler. So I say to this government that if you are serious about skills, then make it real for communities like mine. Give small business manufacturers the support they need to take on and keep apprentices. Lift financial support so apprentices can afford to stay in training and fund targeted multicultural outreach in places like south-west Sydney.

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

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.