Press conference with Senator for Queensland Nita Green at Cairns TAFE

SENATOR NITA GREEN:  My name’s Nita. I’m the Labor Senator for Queensland and I live right here in Cairns. Thank you very much for being here today. I'm really pleased to be back at TAFE in Cairns to talk about Fee-Free TAFE, one of the fantastic initiatives from the Albanese Labor Government, which is all about addressing the cost of living, but of course, skilling up Queenslanders for the future. I'm really pleased to be here today with our Assistant Minister for Climate Change, Jenny McAllister.

Now, Jenny is from New South Wales, but we've let her in because we thumped them last week at Origin, so it's totally fine for her to be in Queensland. We'll see what happens in game two, but so far, so good. And we're really pleased that Jenny could be here because of course, Far North Queensland is going to be the home of renewable energy projects in the future, and we've also got so much to gain from the new energy transition. And so, what we're here today to talk about is how we are skilling up Queenslanders for those new jobs of the future and how young Queenslanders are getting the opportunity to be skilled as electricians, and to make sure that they can be part of our new energy jobs of the future.

I think Fee-Free TAFE has been an incredible opportunity for people here in Cairns and throughout regional Queensland. We’ve seen people take up the opportunity to become aged care workers. We've seen new chefs trained, and today we're talking about the electricians that have had the opportunity to be trained. So I'll let Jenny talk to you a bit about our policies, and how, and why, we are developing these types of skills right here in Queensland.

And I'm really, really thankful to have a team of electricians here today to talk to you about the jobs that they are doing and how important it is that we have those jobs right here in regional Queensland. Thank you, Jenny.

SENATOR JENNY McALLISTER, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY: Well, thank you Nita, it is an absolute pleasure to be here with you. You are such a strong advocate for Far North Queensland and Queensland in general. Always a pleasure to be here, even if it's under the circumstances you’ve described. Jane, thank you also for welcoming us to TAFE here and Robbie, of course you and all of your classmates, it's really such a great opportunity to talk to you about the work that you've been doing and what you think that our future is. The world is moving towards net zero. And decarbonisation here and abroad offers enormous opportunities for Australian industries, and of course, for Australian workers.  We know that there are jobs that will come with the growth of renewable energy and the decarbonisation of our industries. And we want to make sure that right across the country, people have the skills, and are ready to participate in these new industries. That is what the Fee-Free TAFE proposition is all about, and it drives so much of what is in our budget. Essentially, we know that the growth in demand for people who can work in constructing renewable energy, who can work in maintaining renewable energy systems is set to explode over the coming decades. We're talking today with a group of apprentice electricians. Our projections are that we need 30,000 new electricians by 2030. There’s enormous opportunity for people here, and it's so pleasing to see young people taking up those opportunities.

Fee-Free TAFE is an important part of this, making sure there are not cost barriers to people coming in and taking up these training opportunities. We also have in place New Energy Apprenticeships, a $10,000 payment available for apprentices who take up a role in a clean energy apprenticeship. It's part of a much broader commitment to Vocational Education and Training. More than $12.5 billion contributed by the Commonwealth to the National Skills Agreement over five years, working with states and territories to make sure that we have the vocational education system that we require. Of course, Mr. Dutton's approach to climate change and energy transition puts all of this as risk. Mr. Dutton not only imperils the security of our energy systems by his refusal to engage with our international obligations. He imperils the opportunities for jobs and new industries that come with this transition. Our government has an entirely different approach. We understand the opportunities that are before us. We understand our obligations to make sure Australians are ready for this change, and we are getting on with the job, delivering it. Jane, would you want to say something about Fee-free TAFE?

JANE, HEAD OF TAFE QUEENSLAND: We’re delighted to have you here with us today to be able to showcase to you our wonderful Cairns campus, our wonderful educators and students that are really, I think, proving the faith that the government – both federally and in Queensland – has in our young students. Fee-Free TAFE has been fantastic. I think, the take up for it in Queensland has been better than any other state and we’re delighted with the numbers of students we’re getting through. So very happy about that.  I think you want to talk to one of our students, so I’ll let him say – speak about it himself.

JOURNALIST: What’s your full name?

ROBBIE, APPRENTICE ELECTRICIAN: Robbie [inaudible].

JOURNALIST: An apprentice?

ROBBIE: Yeah, apprentice electrician.

JOURNALIST: Tell us how your apprenticeship has been so far under Fee-free TAFE.

ROBBIE: It’s been really good in the sense that it removes the issues with employers and finding fees, especially with the cost of living going up now. It really helps in that sense. To get us – to get us the education that we need and helps to help us invest in the things we can.

JOURNALIST: Can you talk to us about some of the challenges you face or other students face before the scheme came in, you mentioned before.

ROBBIE: Yes. So obviously, sending your apprentices away to TAFE, you lose them for that period of time, and you’re also paying for them to be here.  So by not having them with you making money, it can be quite difficult for the employers. But with Fee-free TAFE, it kind of removes that which helps everyone.

JOURNALIST: Tell me about your journey. Where do you want to go?

ROBBIE: So I'm currently fourth year doing my block 3A, so two blocks left and then capstone. My finish date’s approximately October. And, you know, I'm part of the family business, my father's company. So maybe one day to take on the reins of that and to take it to new places.

JOURNALIST: Would you want to go into the renewable sector? [inaudible]

ROBBIE: We do currently do solar, which is really good, especially up – I'm from Mareeba, and always sunny up there. So everyone wants solar. We’ve delved a little into hydro power in the past with the Kidston line.  But yeah, renewable, it's the way of the future so we’re differently looking at that.

JOURNALIST: And for the new apprentices coming through next, has the scheme been an incentive for them to go to TAFE?

ROBBIE: I think so in the sense that, again, it gives the employer the opportunity, they’re not that burdened to send, and then they’re more likely to pick up apprentices. Yeah I think it’s been really good for apprentices.

JOURNALIST: In Far North Queensland, we just faced the floods where we did face the skills shortages for people looking to rebuild their homes. What will schemes like this do for helping with that skills shortage?

GREEN: Well, it is a timely reminder when the floods hit Far North Queensland that we did need more trades here on the ground.  And we were just talking to some of the apprentices that have been trained here at TAFE, they were actually out working to get people's power reconnected. So it's a really good reminder that we do need as many skilled trainees as we can up here in Far North Queensland. And that's why we're investing in Fee-Free TAFE.  In Queensland, 70,000 students have benefited from Fee-Free TAFE just last year. And I expect those numbers to grow. So there's an enormous opportunity for students to get the skills that they need, to be able to get good, secure jobs when they finish their apprenticeship. And then if we do ever face ourselves with another disaster, we know that our community rallies together and they’ll do the same thing again.

JOURNALIST: And so when did the scheme start? And how long will it run for?

GREEN: So the next allocation of Fee-Free TAFE [inaudible]. And that's over the next three years. But Queensland particularly as Jane said is taking this up in strides. So we're working really closely with the Queensland Government because TAFE is a really important part of their economic journey as well. And they're talking about the New Energy Jobs Plan. Skills and TAFE are very much center of that. Unfortunately, under the previous LNP government, at the state level, they actually closed TAFEs down or ran them into the ground. The current state government has invested in TAFE. They’ve got a federal government that backs TAFE now as well. And so you’ve seen this investment, you’ve seen students flooding back to TAFE campuses, getting the opportunities, getting the jobs of the future. And that's what we're so proud of here in Cairns to be able to showcase how this can work.

JOURNALIST: And is the scheme available for all trades?

GREEN: There is a list of trades, most of them are on there. We want to see as many tradies get a job as possible. We also need, when it comes to renewable energy, we need plumbers, mechanics. So we need lots of different trades to be looking at these opportunities. Of course, in places like Cairns or Townsville or even Rocky, we’re also looking at training up people in manufacturing skills, because we've got a huge opportunity with renewable energy to have more advanced manufacturing. And we're seeing that here in Far North Queensland. We’ve got marine manufacturing. In Townsville, you’ve got some renewable manufacturing and advanced manufacturing down in Rocky. So all of those opportunities in regional Queensland are there. One of the things I've always said about our energy transition is that regional Queenslanders have the most to lose, but we also have the most to gain, and that's why we're investing so heavily in our regions.

JOURNALIST: Jane, you talked about it briefly before but can you talk me through what the uptake is like previous to the scheme and what it’s like currently.

JANE: You’d have to ask my executives about the exact numbers. But I do know that there’s been an extraordinary increase. It’s over double.

JOURNALIST: Nita, can we please get your general thoughts on the state budget.

GREEN: On the state budget? [inaudible] Thank you very much for the question. Look, I think the state budget has delivered for Queenslanders exactly what the federal government is aiming to do, and that is to address the cost of living pressures that Queenslanders are under. Now, the state budget that was delivered last night will work together with the federal budget to deliver cost of living relief for Queenslanders, all across our state. In 19 days, really good news that every Queenslander will get a tax cut under our government. And that is the centerpiece of our budget that will work with some of the measures that the state government has announced.

So 19 days, every single Queenslander will get a tax cut. Also, we’re delivering $300 worth of energy bill relief. That will work with the Queensland Government's $1,000 bill relief. So people in Queensland will have free power for nine months because you've got two Labor Governments working together. And it's also really good to see that investment in infrastructure.

Our budget had $1 billion for the Bruce Highway and despite the naysayers, that funding does come all the way up to Cairns, including the Cairns Southern Access Road. So we've seen that funding flow all the way through. Of course, there was more funding for the Cairns Water Security Project, so we'll keep working constructively with the council and the state, who traditionally do have responsibility for water projects like that. And we'll keep talking to them about how we can work with our 105 million dollar investment to include more funding there.

The last thing I'd like to say about the budget is that it's really important to remember the Queenslanders are the custodians of the Great Barrier Reef, and so our budgets have always made sure that there's more investment. We’ve delivered an extra $5 million in our budget for the Tourism Reef Protection Initiative.  And last night, the government actually is investing more money to keep, to protect threatened species, and that includes our marine life. So it's a really good budget all round. Cost of living is obviously the key focus of the Miles Government, but also of the Albanese Government as well.