Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

It is normally my practice to thank senators who have made a contribution to the debate. But I think today, given some of those contributions, I can merely acknowledge them—particularly the contribution of Senator Sterle, which would be one of the most embarrassing presentations that I have seen in my time in this place. It was on a particularly embarrassing day for the Labor Party, when their leader does not have the self-discipline and strength to ignore a jibe from a government backbencher. It shows poor leadership, and that was followed by Senator Sterle today.

The presentations by opposition senators here today really demonstrate that they just do not understand what the Australian technical colleges are all about. The opposition are more about the process of the system than they are about the students within the system. One of the reasons that I am so enthusiastic about an Australian technical college is the opportunities that it will provide for students who go through that system into the future. I am one of those who completed an apprenticeship in the 1970s. I went through trade training, through the traditional TAFE process, with people who had generally left school at grade 10. A lot of those people never had the opportunity to complete grade 12 to get that additional qualification that would give them access to tertiary or higher education into the future. They would have to go back and do that subsequent to their trades.

It really is a new innovation in education. And for Labor in particular to be so steadfastly stuck in the past in relation to traditional trade training—and trade training is what this is all about—is quite a significant thing. The Labor Party wants to stick with the old way of doing things through TAFE. It is interesting to note that in most states TAFE is in fact a significant partner of the Australian technical colleges. The Australian technical colleges are buying services from the TAFE system. What this is about is a new way of doing things. It is about providing the training that industry wants and also providing opportunities for students into the future so that once they have completed their trade training, once they have moved into their trade, they have the opportunity to move on to further education. It is about real opportunities for students, not just about the system.

It is also a pity that Labor are not prepared to accept—and I can understand them not being prepared to accept—the role that the Keating government played in the current skills shortage. They cannot deny that that is the case. The ‘recession that we had to have’ put a lot of people out of work and took a lot of work and business away from industry and businesses around the country. Once the economy started to turn up, the demand for labour started to increase and, of course, the demand for trainees and training then started to increase.

I can give a very good example of that. The construction industry in Tasmania was decimated through the nineties, partly through the actions of the Field Labor government, which cut the government construction budget significantly; it took $40 million out of that budget when it came to government in the early 1990s. But, to give it credit, the Field Labor government was looking at dealing with a significant budget problem. The ‘recession that we had to have’ absolutely knocked the life out of the construction industry in Tasmania. It was not until late 2002 or early 2003 that the construction industry in Tasmania started to revive, on the back of the economic growth of the country and the decision to purchase some new ships to ply the Bass Strait trade which was supported by the Australian government with the Bass Strait Passenger Vehicle Equalisation Scheme. The impact of that growth in demand is clearly demonstrated by apprentice numbers in the carpentry and joinery trade in Tasmania. In 2002, there were 150 apprentices being trained in carpentry and joinery in Tasmania. Last year there were 700. That is a 450 per cent increase in the number of apprentice carpenters and joiners. The demand that came out of the industry has driven the growth in demand and training for apprentices. Carpentry and joinery is one of the trades that will be part of the Australian technical college based in northern Tasmania.

At this point, I will pay tribute to the efforts of Michael Ferguson and Mark Baker, who did enormous work in supporting the introduction of an Australian technical college in northern Tasmania. In fact, without the work of Mark Baker the likelihood is that there would not be a campus of the Australian technical college on the north-west coast in Burnie. That is a significant achievement by one member of the government in grasping the nettle. As a trained apprentice carpenter himself, Mr Baker understood the need, he understood the process and he grasped the opportunity. He went out and created for the north-west coast of Tasmania a campus for an Australian technical college. Mr Baker deserves the credit, and the congratulations of his constituents, for doing that.

Given what the opposition speakers have said, one might have thought that nothing was happening as far as the Australian technical colleges go. The reality is that this is all about bringing forward the funding for the legislation—