QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for the Environment and Water) (14:49): Thanks, Senator Stewart, for your question. She is absolutely right: free TAFE is changing lives right across the country, not just in Victoria. Senator Stewart's home state, but in every single state across the country and territories as well.
We've seen more than 850,000 new enrolments, and those numbers are rising every single day. As a result of the Albanese Labor government's free TAFE program, we've also seen 275,000 course completions, and that number is also growing day by day. I know that Senator Stewart's questions refer to Victoria, which was the birthplace of free TAFE.
That would have been under a state Labor government, I'm presuming, probably not a state coalition government. Jeff Kennett was more into closing TAFEs, as I recall, rather than providing free TAFE. Opposition senators interjecting— Senator WATT: Oh, there they go, still genuflecting to Jeff Kennett.
Oh, yes, there they go. We'll come to you, Senator Hume. Just be patient.
In the last 3½ years, we've seen 185,000 free TAFE— Senator WATT: Oh, Senator Henderson, you made it back from CPAC. Congratulations. How did you get on at CPAC over the weekend, copying One Nation's policies as well?
Senator WATT: It was great to have you in Brisbane over the weekend, Senator Henderson. Senator WATT: In the last 3½ years, we've seen 185,000 free TAFE enrolments in Victoria alone, and that means more nurses, more tradies and more early childhood educators for Victoria. Free TAFE is growing the pipeline of skilled workers Australia needs, and that's why we've made it permanent.
And yet the coalition and One Nation continue to stand against it. They voted against making it permanent, and at every opportunity they talk it down, and with it they talk down the hundreds of thousands of Australians who've seen the value in free TAFE. Senator Stewart might be interested to find out that the most recent criticisms come from a trio of Victorians.
On Radio National a fortnight ago, when asked where their savage budget cuts should come from, Senator Hume specifically called out free TAFE as something that needed to go. She's previously said that 'free TAFE' is a slogan and asked, 'Why would you continue it?' That is Senator Hume, a Victorian. (Time expired)