Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

We have seen those consequences firsthand before. We saw the coalition's approach during its decade of drift and disdain for early learning. They left behind a workforce crisis. They left the educators without a proper pay rise for ten long years. They called our historic 15 per cent pay rise a 'sugar hit'. They voted against free TAFE, calling it 'wasteful spending'. At the last election, the former shadow minister said that they would abolish free TAFE—hello, Senator Henderson! We all remember Liberal leader Ms Ley declaring, 'If you don't pay for something, you don't value it.' On this side the chamber, we value Australian families, free TAFE and our nation's early childhood educators.