PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Mr REBELLO (McPherson) (16:51): I rise to speak to this motion in relation to TAFE, and I say at the outset that I have a fantastic TAFE in Robina in my electorate, and I've had the opportunity, both prior to being elected and also post my election, to engage directly with not only the staff there but also the students. It's an impressive facility, and people on the southern Gold Coast have the opportunity to access that and to further their knowledge and then, in turn, contribute to our community not only on the Gold Coast but around the state and country as well.

I support TAFE, I support apprentices, and I support Queenslanders getting real skills. But there's one point of difference that I will make from the contribution of the member for Leichhardt, and that is that he referred to the fact that the government has signed, sealed and delivered TAFE. I agree that the government has invested a substantial amount of money, but what I will say is that we can't just judge success based on the amount of money invested.

We need to look at the outcomes. Ultimately, in my interactions with small-business owners in my electorate who have taken on students from RTOs and from TAFE, they've actually given me an insight into what happens on the ground not only for employers but also for those people seeking employment post TAFE. What we should make sure we distinguish is the difference between what the government's doing, which is celebrating the first day of the class as opposed to celebrating graduation day—a queue at TAFE isn't a workforce.

A course started is not a house built. A press release is not a plumber, and a media conference does not wire a new home. The government says that there are almost 135,000 Queensland free TAFE enrolments, but the questions that we actually need to ask—the questions that the government is not asking—are: How many completed?

How many drop out? How many are earning a wage? I speak to an example in Robina in my electorate.

I engaged with a local RTO that does barbering. It's a fantastic RTO, and the students who were taking up barbering there are doing a really impressive job. One of the things that they said to me is that they noticed that they were taking on young people who were going through and doing courses at TAFE, but the courses weren't actually allowing them to get a job.

This is where we need to make sure we have some sort of a review into the actual certifications that you get at TAFE translating into employment. What students were doing is—they were attracted to certain courses but then, on the other end, were having to take on additional courses and further study in order to be employable, and that's not something that does either the students any good nor us as a society who's desperate for a number of employees in these critical skills shortage areas any good.

The question that's not being asked is: how many students are filling the shortages that Labor keeps talking about? If the government can't answer that clearly, it shouldn't be taking selfies with the spreadsheet. Nationally, the latest snapshot shows that more than 800,000 enrolments occur in TAFE, but around 250,000 completions occur.

That means that we're still seeing a government that's selling the sign-up sheet as the success story. I understand that the government is saying that completions will rise—and fair enough—but that cuts both ways. If the data is still maturing, we can't really declare victory until it's matured.

Enrolment's the starting gun and employment's the finishing line. The apprenticeship pipeline tells a tougher and harsher story. Active apprentice and trainee contracts are actually down 8.6 per cent in a year, and, in Queensland, they're down 8.4 per cent.

So we're seeing the skills pipeline really struggling, which doesn't actually correlate with the messaging that's coming through this motion and from those opposite. The big problem with the government at the moment is that these big announcements are followed by weak follow-throughs, with more posters and fewer people on the tools. So we can't praise the government for spending the money.

We want to make sure that there's proof that the money has worked. And that shouldn't be controversial, because it's basic accountability. In summary, the motion wants praise for inputs.

We want results. We want to see the completions. We want to see the jobs.

Show us the apprentices who finish. Until then, it's not national leadership we're seeing; it's national self-congratulation. Labor can applaud enrolments.

The coalition will back completions, jobs and apprentices—because that's what actually builds our country.