Wednesday, 22 June 2022

 Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop) (14:13): I am very pleased to inform the house about the Andrews Labor government’s Big Build jobs juggernaut and how we are delivering more jobs, skills and opportunities for Victorians than ever before. Whether it is level crossing removals, the Metro Tunnel or major road projects, these are the projects that our jobs juggernaut is built on. We have 18 000 people working directly on these transformational projects, and we know that for every 100 jobs that you see out on a construction site, men and women in high vis, there are another 200 jobs that are supported in the supply chain right across the state. And because we understand that government has to take a leadership role and have deliberate policy settings in place through its Major Projects Skills Guarantee, more than 5.4 million work hours have been clocked up by young apprentices, trainees and cadets since 2018.

Of course we could not have done this without free TAFE. It is the Andrews Labor government making TAFE courses free that has helped enable the Andrews Labor government’s Big Build. Free TAFE courses such as civil construction, plant operations, construction supervision, electrotechnology and many more engineering- and construction-related courses are exactly the courses that are feeding and supporting the Big Build. This is complemented by that fabulous tunnelling centre of excellence at Holmesglen TAFE and the North East Link jobs and skills centre at Watsonia, where 600 jobseekers have already been through the door. These are the free TAFE courses that are supporting our Big Build with jobs that are not just for a week or a month. These are jobs for life, built off the skills and training that you get through our fabulous TAFE network—exactly the sorts of jobs that would be at risk from those opposite who not only want to cut the infrastructure pipeline but we know have cut TAFE before.