Adjournment: Education in Mount Gambier
It's always a good day when I get up and I'm able to speak about my fantastic home state of South Australia. I recently had the opportunity to spend some time in the great city of Mount Gambier, which is in the federal electorate of Barker. While I was there, I met with a range of residents, particularly healthcare professionals from the urgent-care clinic and the other GP services across that great region.
I also met with farmers, with schoolteachers and with a lot of very enthusiastic students. I got the opportunity to visit multiple schools when I was in Mount Gambier, and two in particular stick out for me, Melaleuca Park Primary School and Mount Gambier North Primary School, probably because I got to spend a great deal of time with their students. I got to hang out with them in the classroom, talk to them and get quizzed mercilessly by them, and it was great. It was a really lovely experience.
These students shared with me some of their hopes and dreams, and it was great to be able to see what they were passionate about and to have a really solid sense of what the Albanese Labor government can do to help them achieve that—what we can do to help them realise those dreams.
One of the key things that I think are really important is their ability to go on to postschool education, be that university or TAFE, and to be able to do it in their own home town—to be able to stay at home and not have to travel great distances. That's one of the biggest problems we face in our regional areas.
So I was quite delighted to be able to talk to them about those opportunities and the fact that we are growing fee-free TAFE so that they can go and learn the skills that they're going to need into the future right at home. They were all pretty excited about that. In addition to that, the fact that we are now looking to remove a significant chunk of the debt that students are carrying is also something that's going to make a difference to those families and to those kids while they're trying to pursue their dreams.
Cutting student debt by 20 per cent is going to make a difference to that region. But I was quite fascinated, while I was in the great seat of Barker, to hear the local Liberal member, Mr Tony Pasin, who spoke out against these things on the radio while I was there. It was interesting to see how little he actually seemed to know about our vocational education system. He seemed to be under the impression that the reforms to student debt were only going to benefit people with university degrees.
I'll quote what he said on the radio. He said that 'carpenters and plumbers' should also get 'this free kick'. I think that's a fairly disrespectful way to put it, but he obviously doesn't understand what's going on here. He obviously has not realised that these commitments are going to slash 20 per cent from every kind of student debt, so, yes, it will include debts accrued for TAFE courses and apprentices if they're listed on 1 June next year.
This is exactly what we need to do, and I was just blown away that Mr Pasin doesn't want 12,000 people in his electorate to have that debt reduced and keep more of what they earn. I'm aghast. If he's just attempting to make political commentary, as opposed to looking at the needs, wants and dreams of the people in his electorate, maybe they should reconsider how they vote. The other thing that we are doing that makes a difference in regional areas is putting university hubs in nine locations across regional South Australia.
University hubs are brilliant. I've spent quite a bit of time with the people who run the university hubs in Port Pirie and Port Augusta, and it's really working for students, so we're opening more. Three of those new locations are in the seat of Barker, but I'm not sure Mr Pasin has anything positive to say about that either.
There's so much going on, so many great things for these students who have dreams and aspirations. The Albanese Labor government are going to deliver and help them achieve those dreams. It was excellent to have a trip down there.