Wednesday, 22 June 2022

 Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (14:07): I am very pleased to update the house on the government’s record investment in TAFE, particularly our government’s program of free TAFE positions and how it is making rewarding career pathways accessible to more and more Victorians. More than 100 000 Victorians have signed up—

A member: How many?

Mr ANDREWS: One hundred thousand Victorians have signed up for a free TAFE place since we introduced that free TAFE system in 2019. That is $240 million worth of fees that have not had to be paid. That is $240 million in those Victorians’ pockets that would not otherwise be there—plus of course they are able to enrol in TAFE because we have not smashed it up, we have not destroyed it, we have not gone around closing campuses. I well remember that, with my honourable friend the Deputy Premier, one of the first things we did when we came to office was to go out—

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Laugh all you want—with the boltcutters to take the padlocks off Swinburne out in Lilydale, which had been shamefully closed by this lot opposite. They were not just content to cut the funding, they smashed TAFE to smithereens. What we have done: we have saved TAFE because we said we would, we made TAFE free because we said we would—and now we are making it better than it has ever been.

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: What a shame they were not this loud about TAFE in the cabinet room—what a terrible shame. You lost your voice then, didn’t you? You absolutely smashed it to smithereens.

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Laugh all you want, because we will be reminding every Victorian of what you did to TAFE and how it is so much better today.

The SPEAKER: The member for Polwarth can leave the chamber for the period of 1 hour.

Member for Polwarth withdrew from chamber.

Mr ANDREWS: How much better it is today—again, free TAFE, better than it has ever been.