PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Ms JORDAN-BAIRD (Gorton) (12:42): Tradies are who keep our country moving. I'm so proud to represent my community in the western suburbs, where hi-vis is a normal sight out at the shops. My family is full of tradies.

I'm even married to one, a sparky from Melbourne's west. That's why I'm so proud of the Albanese Labor government's focus on supporting tradies while they build the homes that our country needs, and we're doing this in a number of ways. I'm so glad that the member for Riverina raised the very important issue of TAFE.

First and foremost, it is a Labor government who has invested in free TAFE, and now we've made it permanent. That's right; free TAFE is here to stay, helping more Aussies get better jobs with higher wages. We're doing that for at least 100,000 free TAFE and VET students per year from 2027, underpinned by the Free TAFE Act 2025.

My family is the way it is because of free TAFE. My husband, Chris, was able to make a career change later in life because of Labor's free TAFE. He's now a mature-age electrical apprentice in his third year studying at Victoria University TAFE in Sunshine.

He loves what he does with the team at Rizzo Electrical in Airport West, a third-generation business in the north-west of Melbourne. In Victoria, free TAFE has had close to 150,000 enrolments since the start of the program. This has real impacts, putting thousands of Victorians on a pathway to jobs in nursing, construction, aged care, tech and early childhood education.

It's real savings. For a Victorian training in a diploma for building and construction, free TAFE means savings of about $15,000. We've also increased the living-away-from-home allowance for tradies.

My cousin Nash grew up in the western suburbs. He's a qualified plumber and, currently, has moved to live up in Yarrawonga for work. He's living in a share house with other workers and apprentices who are working with agricultural sorting machinery.

Moving away for work can create a real financial burden that you otherwise wouldn't have to bear. If you have to move away from home or your parents' or guardians' home to start or continue training as an Australian apprentice, you may be eligible to receive the living-away-from-home allowance to help you with the cost of living and being away. Our government is committed to supporting tradies like Nash, which is why we've upped this payment for all Australians.

We've also wiped 20 per cent off all student debt, and this isn't just university debt like HECS but all debt. That includes apprenticeship support and VET student loans as well. Our 20 per cent cut to student debt has meant more than $500 million saved from VET student loan and Australian apprenticeship support loan balances, and it's there to give VET students and apprentices a leg-up when they enter the workforce, with no applications or forms needed—just real cost-of-living relief.

Then there's the Key Apprenticeship Program, which is already making a real difference in attracting new apprentices to housing construction, driving Aussies towards the jobs we need to be building more homes for our growing communities and setting up our apprentices for success. We know this is working. In the first year since its launch on 1 July 2025, more than 32,000 apprentices commenced in housing construction trades under the program.

Unfortunately, not all sides of this chamber have seen the success of the program for what it is. The Liberals neglected our apprenticeship system for almost a decade. Labor inherited the worst skills shortage Australia has seen in 50 years after almost a decade of Liberal neglect.

They ripped billions from TAFE and training and blew $7 million on untargeted schemes like 'hamburger university', which saw dropout rates as high as 60 per cent, while critical trades were ignored. The shadow minister for skills and training called our Key Apprenticeship Program 'inflationary', 'wrong' and 'not the answer'. Tell that to the tradies in my community in Melbourne's western suburbs.

Tell that to the tradies around the country who are receiving $10,000 cash payments to help apprentices become the carpenters, the plumbers and the sparkies we'll need in the future and who are staying in trades and seeing their futures change thanks to Labor's free TAFE, because that's what building Australia's future looks like—delivering real change, helping young people get ahead and skilling up our workforce into the future.