PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Mr MATT SMITH (Leichhardt) (16:46): I move: That this House: (1) recognises the Government's national leadership in partnering with states and territories to strengthen the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system and help more Australians gain the skills they need for secure, well-paid jobs; (2) observes this partnership is already delivering results in Queensland, including almost 135,000 enrolments in Free TAFE and 2,000 construction apprentice sign-ups under the Small Business Apprenticeship Pilot Program; (3) notes that: (a) with up to $2.52 billion in Commonwealth funding being invested in Queensland over five years, this partnership is well-placed to deliver continued growth in training opportunities and outcomes; and (b) $85 million has already been delivered under Free TAFE, with a further $188 million in Commonwealth funding committed to Queensland over the next five years; (4) acknowledges these outcomes demonstrate the Government's commitment in delivering real benefits to Queenslanders; and (5) affirms that a strong, high-performing VET sector is critical to a fairer society and a more productive economy.

If you go shopping on the weekend and you've got your kids with you or maybe you just want a bit of a stickybeak and you head down to Big W, Target or Kmart—pick one; it doesn't matter—and you end up in the toy section, if you look around there are costumes. You can be Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, a Ninja Turtle or a Transformer. It doesn't matter.

You can be whatever your mind desires. But also you can be a nurse. You can be a construction worker.

You can be a plumber. One of the litmus tests for a job or a career is: does a five-year-old want to do it? That's what TAFE is about.

I want to tell a story about a woman named Terri. I met Terri a couple of years ago during the campaign at the TAFE up there in Cairns. She was telling me that, when she was a child, all she wanted in life was to be a nurse.

That was her goal. That was her aim. Life, as it sometimes does, took her in a different direction.

She ended up in admin. She raised some children. She lived a good life.

But in the back of her head there was still that dream, that dream of a five-year-old—'Could I have been a nurse?' Fee-free TAFE gave her that opportunity. It's hard if you're doing an admin job to take the time off to do that extra study and to pay for it, but fee-free TAFE gave her that opportunity. We met her just before she graduated.

She was so proud because, every day, she rewarded that little girl. She allowed the dream that had sat dormant for half a century. Now Terri is a nurse and she walks the floors of a hospital, she saves lives and she is the person she wanted to be as a child.

That is an amazing feeling for her. There are going to be tough days. Nursing is hard.

It's going to have ups and downs. But, every day, I promise you that little girl is thanking her. That's what fee-free TAFE is.

Fee-free TAFE is supplying the workforce that we need. It is allowing hardworking Aussies the opportunity to be the thing they wanted to be as a child and to give our workforce much-needed skills. The jobs are coming.

In Cairns alone, there's almost $1 billion worth of infrastructure coming down the pipeline. That is a huge amount of work that is going to need to be done. We're going to need chippies, sparkies, boilermakers, plumbers, nurses and aged-care workers.

We are on the edge of something really exciting, and the only way that we can realise that is by having the workforce, and the workforce is going to be provided by fee-free TAFE. To give you an overview, there have been over 135,000 enrolments. There have been 2,000 construction apprenticeship sign-ups through the Small Business Apprenticeship Pilot Program.

We are training Queenslanders so we can get more people to work in the fields that they want to work in and deliver the projects that we need. We need these projects, and we're giving people the opportunity to do it. I met a young fella who had just finished his carpentry apprenticeship.

He tells his children every day when they go past the high-rise that he worked on, 'Daddy made that, and people are living in that house right now,' and he is so proud, and his children are proud of him. His son has a little saw, and his daughter has a little hammer, and maybe one day they too will take advantage of fee-free TAFE, because, when it was designed and the pilot program rolled out and we saw how successful it was, this prime minister made a promise that we are going to make fee-free TAFE stay, and that has been signed, sealed and delivered.

You can take the vocational opportunities that you need. You can go out and become the thing you wanted to be as a child, and you can contribute to building Australia's future, and you can do it all at your local TAFE. The best part about it is that, with no fees—it doesn't matter where you are in life—that opportunity is still presented to you.

It still exists for you right now. We have invested over $85 million into fee-free TAFE in Queensland, with another $188 million coming over the next five years. I want Queenslanders to know that this government has their back.

We are going to deliver the workforce, we are going to deliver the jobs, and we are going to make sure that Queensland's future is built off the back of good, honest vocations for hardworking Queenslanders who want to get ahead. I commend this to the Chamber. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Swanson ): Is the motion seconded?

Ms Campbell: I second the motion, and I reserve my right to speak.