Matt Gregg
Deakin · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“Now, let's talk about the challenges faced by the Australian people: a quadrupling of house prices over two decades, unresolved by the Liberal Party in government; and we had 4.1 gigawatts out of baseload energy, unresponded to by the coalition government.”
“This is a government focused on the future and focused on actually resolving the challenges faced by the Australian people rather than whinging about them and going on template tirades which solve absolutely nothing. The coalition then have the gall to say, 'Oh, look, the coalition's less popular.”
“We are going to confront them on behalf of the Australian people, to make sure that they can be optimistic that the future is going to be better. We make absolutely no apologies for that. Today, 1 July—despite me sounding a little angry—is actually a very good day. It's a very good day! Every taxpayer is getting a tax cut.”
“Change is what the Labor government is delivering. We are making difficult decisions that actually address the challenges faced by Australians. We don't just sit here proud of the status quo; we come here to make a difference. It's very easy to come in and make statements. What is difficult is change.”
“Then, suddenly, they come into this chamber as if all challenges faced by society came out of nowhere and are all Labor's fault. It's complete nonsense. We are responding to the issue of energy shortages by developing a 21st-century grid, because we know that energy is the key to future productivity and success.”
“Where do I begin? We start with the member for Goldstein making up quotes to be outraged by, reciting tired old campaign lines from a party fast approaching the abyss.”
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“We're also seeing a government that is actually dedicated to increasing the wages of those on the lowest amounts, a government that is willing to support increases to those on the minimum wage—people who we know are doing it tough, people who are really facing the brunt of this cost-of-living challenge that so many of us are facing—a government that actually wants to see workers doing better. It's not a deliberate design feature of our economic architecture to see wages go down. We want workers to share in the prosperity that we are going to be building together. We also want to support business in increasing productivity. That doesn't mean lowballing wages. It means doing things better. It means innovating. It means investing in research and development.”
“If it's all too easy to get a competitive advantage just by short-changing your employees, you're not innovating; you're not coming up with new ideas; you're not changing what you're doing to do things better. You're simply saying, 'Well, I can make more profit if I spend less on this input'—that input being a human being who's doing the work. So it's really important to see the enterprise agreement system working as intended, and I'm pleased to see that the changes made continue to support that model.”
“That's an arrangement negotiated between workers and their employers, terms and conditions that suit the parties involved, rather than a generic award. This is something that is suitable not only for the industry but for the individual employer. We know that, when we can get rid of disputation and actually come to agreement and an accord between workers and those who employ them, that gets better outcomes for both. It is the best model to ensure fairness for workers at the same time as addressing opportunities for productivity, because we know that, really, the workforce and the economy don't work well when industrial policy is defined by a race to the bottom on wages. No-one wins from that. It's actually anti the productivity we very much need.”
“It is going to be key for social mobility. It's going to be key for health. The roof over your head is one of the most foundational needs of human beings. Finally, we are addressing these priority issues, and it's fantastic to see the work being done by the Australian government in making a real difference to people's lives not only in my community of Deakin but around Australia. Jobs and wages is another area. Again, this all connects with the cost of living. Since the election of the Albanese Labor government, 1.2 million jobs have been created. That is an incredible record. Our reforms have got the enterprise bargaining system working again. Now, about 2.65 million Australians are covered by an enterprise agreement.”
“It's also a really important piece of reform to make sure that we're addressing that intergenerational issue of housing. After a decade, we saw—I think the Commonwealth government built about 373 houses, something that does not reflect the scale of the problem at all. I hear debates in some state parliaments—'Do we build here or there?' Really, the answer is both. We need to build a lot of homes. The scale of the problem is huge, so we need to be considering all ideas of how we go about it. Rezoning, building in activity centres in the suburbs and building in the cities are not mutually exclusive. We have to have a solution that reflects the scale of the problem. 'Build, baby, build' would be my approach to this! Finally, governments are seeing the light on this. They realise that this is going to be key to fairness.”
“If you're saving for years and years for a deposit, that's time where you're going to struggle to rent or it's extra time you're going to have to stay at home. Saving that huge deposit has proven impossible for so many people—and not just people on the lower income scale. People who are on a pretty good wicket will, understandably, struggle to save a 20 per cent deposit for a home with contemporary prices, which have continued to, really, in my part of the world, double every decade. It's something that has been an important initiative, and it's been taken up by many people in my community. About 907 people in my electorate of Deakin have taken advantage of the five per cent deposit scheme. That is life-changing stuff and something they're incredibly grateful for.”
“The ability to get your own home and have that sense of security is something that is invaluable to people and something that young people—people of my generation—felt was elusive. So these investments are incredibly significant and actually make that dream possible. That's not to mention the work around the five per cent deposit scheme. Again, five per cent is still a significant bit of savings. You cannot be financially undisciplined and save five per cent of the current price of a house. Five per cent of $800,000, five per cent of $1 million, is still a lot of money to save. It is highlighting the financial prudence—the very reason we have deposits—as well as giving people a shot and actually making that dream possible.”
“More than 570,000 homes have been built since Labor was elected. There is more to do. There's an ambitious target of 1.2 million—a fantastic aspiration—and we continue to work for it. Even as challenges around Iran and supply chain issues come up, the focus on making sure supply is there is really addressing the root cause of the problem: demand versus supply. We need more and more supply. We need to continue on that relentless mission to ensure that we actually have enough houses for the people in Australia and that we can also deal with the very significant issue of price. This has been a supply-and-demand imbalance decades in the making. It's finally something that is being dealt with at a Commonwealth level. It really is going to be something that addresses one of the great intergenerational inequities that we're seeing.”
“That deal with the states has been a long time coming, but it's something we can all be incredibly proud of—to make sure that the hospitals continue to serve patients with the quality of care that they deserve. Another exciting aspect of the agenda, reflected in these appropriation bills, is housing, after years of neglect from governments, federal and state. Traditionally, housing was not part of the federal government's role, but we've now got a problem 40 years in the making that has reached such a scale that it can only be dealt with by a Commonwealth government, and this Commonwealth government has stepped into the game. We are seeing investments from a $45 billion plan focused on three things—building more homes, making it easier to buy a home and making it better for renters.”
“If we can deal with things early, before they get out of hand and before hospitals are required, it's the best bang for buck you can get in the healthcare system, so it's incredibly important work. I know that the mission of strengthening Medicare continues. We've got a minister for health and ageing who is absolutely dedicated to making sure that Medicare continues to fulfil its promise and benefit Australians around the country. That record funding is in addition to record funding in hospitals. We've got a new hospitals deal, providing an additional $25 billion in Commonwealth funds to support hospitals in Australia, which is going to make a huge difference.”
“A lot of people were missing out on essential health care because they simply could not afford it, and this important work around Medicare means that we're finally able to return Medicare back to its original promise. It's something I—and, I think, everyone in the government—is incredibly proud of. Despite the naysayers, this has been successful. Doctors have realised that this makes economic sense. They have started offering these services, and it continues to expand over time as the economics really stacks up on this. As was noted by the member for Menzies, investing in primary health is essential. We see hospital waiting lists. We see full emergency rooms and things like that. Investing in primary health is a fantastic investment.”
“This makes things a little bit easier for those people, particularly those who have to go on multiple medications simultaneously, because that can be very expensive. We've also seen the single largest investment in Medicare in over 40 years, $8.5 billion, delivering more bulk-billing around Australia. That is 12 fully bulk-billed clinics available to the people of Deakin. That's 12 of 3,400 around Australia, so, finally, that Medicare card is doing what we all expect it to do, and people can go to the doctor when they need health care and ensure that they're not going to lose a heap of money, adding to their concerns at this time.”
“The funding will deliver more courts, better and more accessible facilities and more space for people of all ages to play basketball, as well as netball and other sports. If I go onto the broader picture for what this means for Australia, in health care the maximum co-payment for medications on the PBS has now gone down to the lowest level it's been since 2004, 22 years ago. That is, of course, in addition to the freeze of the price for those on healthcare cards, which has been frozen by this government so people aren't, as has sadly become too common, getting prescribed something by their doctor and not feeling like they can afford to pay for it, missing out on the benefits of those medications.”
“Another exciting development is the Nunawading Basketball centre, which serves our area as well. It's close to the member for Menzies seat, as well as the member for Chisholm's. That is a $45 million investment and a fantastic new facility. Young people are playing basketball at levels that certainly are unfamiliar to me as someone from the many generations of just football and cricket, but that has received huge take-up and is engaging a lot of communities. We're expanding that to really just reflect demand that's been there, pent up for years, to make sure it's serving as many people as possible. That will be something we'll hopefully get a little bit more support from the Victorian state government on, if possible, as soon as possible. The centre, like many things in our part of the world in our outer suburbs, is ageing.”
“I really want to thank the Forest Hill Football Netball Club and the Forest Hill Cricket Club, who have both worked together really well in advocating for those projects. Another bit of work we're doing is the North Ringwood Reserve Pavilion redevelopment. That has been announced. That's a $2 million investment, and we'll be building a two-storey, very accessible pavilion with female change rooms, an elevated multipurpose space and a new viewing area for spectators as well. We're bringing these things into the 21st century so we can actually have inclusive clubs and as many people as possible playing sport without feeling like they need to get changed in their car in the car park, which has sadly been the reality for many individuals, particularly women, for far too long.”
“I was very, very happy to see this opened up after being elected as a member of parliament. Finally, in the 21st century, we have female-friendly change rooms. That's something we might take for granted in a lot of parts of the world, but certainly in my electorate, for a long while, if you had gone to many sports facilities and looked for the female bathroom, you would have realised there isn't one. We've been working on that for a little while now, and, finally, this great facility will have a brand-new female-friendly change room with unisex amenities as well, plenty of room for everyone, a refurbished social room, an upgraded kitchen, referee facilities and improved public toilets as well.”
“That is also backed by a separate $5 million investment by the Albanese Labor government. That's part of a new multipurpose hub, which is space for sports clubs and community groups and is backed by a $7.5 million grant from the Albanese government. So there's been really heavy investment by the Albanese Labor government in the fantastic community out there in Croydon, who are getting the updated facilities they very much deserve and have needed for a long while. No longer will we be taking a journey into the time tunnel and seeing what facilities looked like 50 years ago. We will finally have the facilities our community groups very much need as they continue to grow and thrive. Another fantastic project now open is Forest Hill Reserve's redevelopment project. This was advocated for in 2022, when I was the candidate for Deakin.”
“To give you a bit of a picture, picture an outer suburban area, very mid-century infrastructure and design, and pavements that aren't exactly what you'd call even when you're trying to use wheels on them. This project is updating and revitalising facilities that a fantastic community deserves so that people who are using walkers and things like that don't need to trip over. They're very practical but also great visual changes for a growing part of our electorate, with that beautiful revitalisation. That's also complementing the Croydon Community Wellbeing Precinct, which is just a short walk from there as part of a very open, walkable experience, where we'll have new performance and event spaces, meeting spaces, a new library and fantastic facilities for local community groups.”
“I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2025-2026 and related bills. Like every appropriation bill, it is about priorities—the choices we're making as a government to tackle the big challenges and seize the opportunities before us as a country. But it also means changes and opportunities at a local level, so I'll begin by talking about things happening locally in my electorate of Deakin, and then I'll go to some of the broader economic initiatives seen in these documents. Locally in Deakin, I'm proud to say we've now got the Croydon Primary School gym, which I discussed here only a couple of weeks ago. That's now open. We're working on the Croydon Main Street Revitalisation, which is now underway. That's supported by a $7.5 million investment from the Albanese Labor government.”
“We can't control what is happening in the Middle East. There have been incredibly disturbing developments there. We hope that those matters are resolved as quickly as possible, but the Albanese government is doing its job, and so should you.”
“We're not just going to stoke some ridiculous debate devoid of any facts simply to have a little bit of a political edge for one day in question time or to try and treat this as a Facebook video studio so they can just get a little bit of the attention they might be seeking or get a few more followers. This is not the time for that. It's not an election year. There is no need to play these petty little politics. This is a time for us to come together as mature adults and as leaders to try and assist our communities to get through this as best as possible. It's working with states and territories in a productive way to make sure that the distribution of fuel can be done as effectively and responsibly as possible. It requires a mature group of people working maturely to actually address the challenges that we face now.”
“It's completely understandable and I don't judge it, but it isn't assisted by people running around saying, 'Oh! Panic, panic, panic! We're about to have rationing,' and things like that, or even hinting at it. The only relevant question they should be asking in a national situation like this is: what can we do to help? And we've heard none of that from the opposition. We've had rank political opportunism that serves no-one but themselves. And people will not forget. We will not forget. This is the time for us to come together and provide fact based information to the hardworking people in our electorates to make sure that we can carry on through this challenge as unscathed as possible.”
“It makes it worse. It's rank opportunism and it is almost bordering on a self-fulfilling prophecy, trying to create the very anxiety that causes this supply-demand imbalance that we're seeing around the country. We know full well that there is no less fuel in Australia than there was a few weeks ago and that there is enough fuel in Australia to meet Australia's needs. But, understandably, at these times people are feeling anxious. They drive past the service station and they see how high the prices are. They know the fuel is available, so they utilise that moment. It's perfectly understandable. I have relatives on farms in the member for Monash's seat. I've got relatives who are tradies and of course I understand where that anxiety comes from.”
“We're working closely with industry, the states and the territories to ensure that this fuel gets to where it's needed, particularly in regional communities, because we do appreciate the issues raised by the member for Nicholls and the importance of regional communities having access to diesel, particularly as cropping is going on. Following a meeting of National Cabinet, the Commonwealth has appointed Anthea Harris as Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator to support coordination across governments and sectors. If you look at the national fuel emergency response plan, the staged, methodical, well-planned, well-established approach to doing these things, coordinating and leading market-led solutions are the first and second stages. The idea of chucking rumours in about immediate rationing and things like that does not assist an anxious market.”
“Just today, only a short time ago, Minister Bowen informed the House that the Albanese government had temporarily made further changes to the diesel standards, which will help suppliers bring more fuel into the country and provide domestic market access to our farmers, to the truckers and to regional communities. These are incredibly important updates. Australian refineries will now have more flexibility to make diesel and widen the markets from which we can source diesel, including the United States, Canada and Europe, which will allow diesel with lower flashpoints. This will give companies more flexibility and more options to adjust supply chains to manage disruption from the Middle East. This builds on the range of work this government has been doing to shore up Australia's fuel supply.”
“Ensuring our farmers, our regional communities and the services—and, indeed, all the goods—all Australians rely on can continue to be accessed requires us to ensure that all levels of the supply chain have access to the fuel they need. Across the board, the Albanese government has been working through and planning for the impacts of this crisis and protecting Australians from the worst of this global challenge. We have empowered the ACCC to protect motorists from unfair price rises, we have boosted fuel supply by releasing 20 per cent of the baseline minimum stockholding obligation for petrol and diesel, and we're acting to get more fuels into the Australian market by temporarily amending the fuel standards.”
“While I don't agree with every word the member for Nicholls used, I appreciate that he is taking this issue seriously. That's in stark contrast to the mover of this motion, who spent a whole lot of minutes talking on a range of subjects, effectively providing us with his stump speech once again, but not touching on the very real issue and very serious issue of fuel supply. Australians are following events in the Middle East closely, and they are very much seeing and feeling the consequences when they go to the pump. The longer the conflict in the Middle East goes, I fear the more significant the impact will be on the global economy and on people in all of our electorates.”
“What it does is keep stage 1 while abolishing stage 2. All advisers are still registered officially. It just means there isn't now two registrations that individual advisers have to go through. So that is another efficiency and really just cutting red tape. In conclusion, all parts of this bill are important, but, most importantly, we're removing the barrier for vulnerable Australians seeking more information about their own health. This is good for those individuals, good for our healthcare system and good for our society. I commend this bill to the House.”
“Effectively, a few years ago, following the royal commission into banks, there was legislation brought in by the Morrison government which created a two-step registration process for financial advisers: stage 1, which already requires financial advisers to be registered with ASIC via their Australian Financial Services licensee—in other words, their employer registers them together; and stage 2, which was in the bill to be implemented later, also required individual advisers to register themselves individually. The reason given for that at the time was so that they could be reminded of the importance of their legal obligations, but it's now essentially a political consensus that that just adds another layer of regulation without achieving any public policy goal. This bill doesn't abolish adviser registration in any way.”
“But it does mean that the regular functioning of government can continue in a clear, simple and streamlined way consistent with the obligations we as a country have already entered. Schedule 4 of the bill implements the government's commitment to no longer proceed with stage 2 of the registration process for financial advisers established by the Better Advice Act. That might sound very bland and very unexciting, which is understandable.”
“The law around the funding of these institutions is incredibly complex, fragmented and really outdated, so these are very important reforms in schedule 3 as well. They're consistent with our support for international institutions and the G20's call for multilateral development banks to develop and support innovative financial instruments. It also includes provisions standardising appropriations, effectively meaning the way they are spent. It means that if money is required, it can be spent as long as it meets certain criteria, and those are then published in an instrument which comes to the parliament providing oversight. Effectively, it is a disallowable instrument to spend money, which the parliament can come in and debate, block or whatever it wants to do.”
“It's there to ensure that the financial regulation is more efficient, more competitive and better connected globally to enable Australians to have a diverse array of investments and to attract investment here in Australia—so, many benefits economically. Schedule 3 of the bill modernises the legislative framework around multilateral development banks and the International Monetary Fund, reducing the administrative and legislative burden of Australia's commitments. It effectively standardises and streamlines these arrangements—clearer rules for funding, contributions and future commitments—providing one clean modern framework instead of a messy patchwork like what we're seeing right now.”
“It recognises that, if a company is already bound by laws overseas that are equivalent to ours in Australia, there really is no need to duplicate processes unnecessarily when we know those outcomes can already be achieved. It's focused on maintaining protections around overseas financial products where they're needed most—everyday consumers—while providing more flexibility where those using the services are sophisticated institutions like superannuation funds, banks and large corporations and at the same time making sure that our system continues to provide robust protection for individual consumers. It's there to facilitate more competition.”
“The ban will not limit the existing ability of life insurers to access and use certain information for underwriting life insurance, including existing symptoms, diagnoses of diseases and obviously the individual's family history—again, very standard in insurance. This is necessary to ensure that life insurance can continue to be properly risk rated and underwritten, whilst still achieving the aim of providing protection over genetic testing results. While I wanted to focus my remarks today on the banning of genetic testing and life insurance, as other speakers have done, I think it would be remiss of me not to speak briefly about the other components of this important bill. Schedule 2 of this bill removes unnecessary barriers for well regulated overseas financial firms operating here in Australia.”
“Treasury analysis shows the current life insurance framework has caused individuals to not undergo or to delay genetic testing, including participating in clinical research, due to concerns that this may impact the ability to afford life insurance. That means the full benefits of genetic testing—saving lives and improving the quality of life for individuals and advancing medical knowledge and technology—are not being realised. This ban will lead to an increase in genetic testing and therefore extensive individual, public health and scientific benefits. As I flagged earlier, the ban will not prevent individuals from volunteering genetic testing results with written consent and the use of these volunteered results in underwriting where this would not adversely impact the insurance offer or policy terms.”
“The ban makes amendments to the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 to implement the ban and related amendments to the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 to align Australia's antidiscrimination laws with the ban, just ensuring all the different bits of legislation work together. Genetic testing can help save lives, supporting medical practitioners to prevent, treat and monitor a range of cancers, cancer predisposition syndromes and other heritable conditions. Medical research that involves genetic testing contributes to scientific advancement, which can lead to significant individual and public health benefits, such as identifying new risk factors for future illness and testing new therapies for diseases.”
“That means better prevention, earlier treatment, stronger public health outcomes and advances in scientific knowledge that benefit all Australians. Importantly, this ban has teeth. This reform establishes civil and criminal penalties and places enforcement authority with ASIC, which ensures these new protections are backed by strong oversight. Vulnerable Australians deserve a system that supports their health decisions, not one that punishes them. I'm proud that we are moving our system in that direction with this bill. I'll go through the details of schedule 1 of the bill, which implements the government's decision to ban life insurers from using information about an individual's genetic testing results to inform the offer of life insurance cover or the terms and conditions of the cover that is offered.”
“That means that not only are the current laws discouraging vulnerable people from seeking information about their own health; they're holding back advances in medical knowledge and technology that could help thousands, or even millions, of people. That is not good enough and that is why the government is stepping in to make sure the system works for people, not against them. Banning life insurers using someone's adverse genetic test results to determine whether they can get coverage restores certainty. It tells Australians, especially those at higher risk of heritable conditions, that their decision to undertake genetic testing will not jeopardise their access to life insurance or force them into more expensive or restrictive policies. These reforms will support greater uptake of genetic testing and participation in medical research.”
“This bill ensures our anti-discrimination laws keep pace with modern science. We are aligning the Insurance Contracts Act and the Disability Discrimination Act so that Australians have certainty and protection, not fear and confusion, when making decisions about their health. Australians should not have to choose between their health and their ability to access affordable life insurance. Under the current legal framework, vulnerable Australians have been delaying or avoiding genetic testing because they're worried about being penalised by insurers. We're fixing that. Treasury's analysis is clear. People are holding back from essential testing, or even from participating in medical research, because of the actions of life insurance companies.”
“Often this is because, dollar for dollar, we get much more value from early intervention. With the bill before us today, we're not just saving money by reducing the need for complex and expensive treatments; we're saving lives. With the bill before us today, our government is implementing a clear policy. Life insurers will no longer be able to use an individual's adverse genetic testing results to determine whether they can get cover or to set the terms of that cover. I want to recognise the efforts of my friend the Assistant Treasurer in this space. Getting to this point, where we have a bill with broad support, took a lot of effort, conversations and consultation. Those efforts have led us to this point and I believe they will lead to longer, happier, more fulfilling lives for many Australians.”
“I think of that one person in Deakin, who now has access to preventive health care, and how many more people would be accessing potentially life-saving health care if they didn't have to worry about the impacts to the cost of their life insurance. This bill will end that fear and enable Australians to make decisions about genetic testing and genetic research without worrying about their life insurance. This legislation will address the most significant barrier to testing for Australians and pave the way for greater investment into preventive genomic screening. It's pretty common for politicians and policy wonks to talk about how much more effective we are when we invest to prevent a problem from occurring in the first place than when we try to patch things up afterwards.”
“The DNA screen study was extremely popular, with tens of thousands of young people registering their interest in participating in the study. In my electorate of Deakin, at least 66 young people participated in DNA Screen. One of those people was found to be at a high genetic risk and has now been able to access preventive health care. Unfortunately, there were many people who signed up for the DNA screen who decided not to participate because of genetic discrimination in life insurance. For decades, this has been an impossible decision for many Australians, who have had to choose between genetic testing that could save their lives and the potential financial implications for life insurance.”
“This ban has been carefully designed, ensuring that individuals can still volunteer their test results, with written consent if it's of benefit to them, and insurers can still use symptoms, diagnoses and family history to ensure policies remain properly risk rated—an essential feature of insurance. Genetic testing saves lives through the prevention of disease in very high risk people, and there are more of them than most people realise. The DNA screen study at Monash University tested 10,000 Australians from ages 18 to 40 for high genetic risk of preventable cancer and heart disease, finding that one in 50, two per cent, at high risk. Those people were able to access preventive measures, such as surgery, surveillance and medication. Young Australians want preventive genetic information.”
“Genetic testing saves lives. More participation in genetic testing means better prevention, earlier treatment, stronger health outcomes and advances in scientific knowledge that benefit all Australians. But, for too long, many Australians have been discouraged from seeking genetic testing due to a fear of being penalised by insurers, and that is what we're fixing with the Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance and Other Measures) Bill 2025. We are changing the law to put the health of Australians first, banning life insurers from using someone's adverse genetic test results—or information in their DNA highlighting a potential risk—to determine whether or not they get cover or to set the terms of that insurance cover.”
“It has been an enormously successful program. It's a great pity that the coalition do not recognise the important contribution made by TAFE in our community. I can only hope that, with time, they will learn to see the value of it as we continue to build the skilled workforce. I know that, in the construction industry, which was raised before, as part of the Key Apprenticeship Program, we're already seeing about 11½ thousand people signing up for those key apprenticeships in housing construction. So we're very much focused on the job, and I commend the motion to the House.”
“Now, the opposition have said this is a bad idea because it doesn't solve all problems at once. Completions and other aspects of the training system of course work together. This is a multifaceted challenge to ensure that we have the workers that we need, that completions occur and that employers have the incentives and supports they require. It's a multifaceted system. Free TAFE is an essential part of that. It enables people to enrol in the courses to build the skills we need without having a massive financial burden at the start of their careers, often when they least need it. It means young people don't enter the workforce already with a debt, unable to enter the housing market and limited in what they can do. This is a weight off their shoulder, as well as enabling industry to access the skilled individuals they need.”
“In Victoria, the top three courses are literacy and numeracy support—something we desperately need, with both young people and older people needing support in literacy and numeracy at rates that are really higher than we've seen for a very long time; a diploma of nursing—we're talking about qualified enrolled nurses as well, able to administer medications and provide essential support to people in hospitals, aged care and other settings as well; and the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, which enables people to contribute their industrial know-how and their formal skills and qualifications to train the next generation of skilled workers. These are really important courses, and this is the kind of work that has been made possible through free TAFE. We have seen a large increase in the number of enrolments.”
“I know, from the experiences of my own family and of course many in my community that those who have transitioned into careers in nursing and in personal care as well, that this has made an enormous contribution not only to the lives of the students themselves but also to the community more widely—having access to those skilled professionals who can contribute to the provision of those essential services across the board.”
“Victorians understand this so much so that even the state Liberal Party in Victoria recognise the need for free TAFE and, unlike the Liberals in this House, are actually not opposing the free TAFE program. They support it, as they should, because Victorians recognise the importance of free TAFE. In Victoria we've seen about 150,000 enrolments. Nearly 60,000 of those have already completed their courses, and many more will be completing them as they complete their training part time—a very significant completion rate.”
“The criticisms of free TAFE I've heard from the other side of the House seem to be based, frankly, on a contempt for the TAFE sector as it now sits. That's despite the fact that we inherited a system which was dominated by private providers whose reputations were various—we had some very good providers, but plenty were providing subpar education, and many have been deregistered in recent years due to the low quality of training and support they were providing. TAFE, on the other hand, has the trust and confidence of industry and of students to make sure that they are receiving the quality education they need and to bring the skills that are essential for their success in their next careers.”