Sussan Ley lashes Andrew Giles on TAFE data details

Opposition skills and training spokeswoman Sussan Ley has accused her government counterpart Andrew Giles of untruth about availability of data on the government’s Free TAFE policy.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley speaks in Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Opposition skills and training spokeswoman Sussan Ley has accused her government counterpart, Andrew Giles, of being untruthful about the availability of data on the government’s free TAFE policy.

Last week Mr Giles trumpeted there had been “over 110,000 free TAFE courses” completed since the Albanese government’s investment.

However, Ms Ley drew attention to the fact Mr Giles told parliament in November he could not provide non-completion data because of a four-year time lag in reporting.

“As I’m sure the shadow minister knows, the professional data agency, the custodian, the (National Centre for Vocational Education Research), reports completions after four years,” Mr Giles said in question time. “The VET data experts only report on the cohort that completes after four years because it takes four years to get usable data.”

Ms Ley asked how Mr Giles was able to report more than 110,000 completions after he told parliament he could not provide an update on TAFE completions.

“So the question Andrew Giles has to answer today is: did he lie in the parliament because he was not across his brief, or is he lying now because his free TAFE policy is falling apart?” she said.

“Australians can see Labor’s election pledge to make free TAFE permanent does not have the support of those closest to the skills crisis. With the minister responsible for its delivery not even able to keep his story straight, how can Australians trust Labor on free TAFE?”

When contacted for comment, a government spokeswoman said the 110,000 figure “shows the success of free TAFE for some of the shorter courses on offer” and that it would take four years for the NCVER to report the “actual completions data”.

“Sussan Ley’s been too busy trying to secure her new job as the shadow foreign affairs minister that it took her nearly a week to even notice these great free TAFE numbers,” she said. “Because free TAFE only commenced in 2023, there is a time lag between commencements and completions, due to course lengths and part-time study.

“This preliminary data release shows the success of free TAFE for some of the shorter courses on offer and – as we have said all along – we await the actual completion data to be released by NCVER, four years after commencement.”

The NCVER, however, said it did not currently receive data to distinguish free TAFE from other TAFE information.

“NCVER’s data systems do not currently distinguish free TAFE VET activity, with aggregate data on the initiative reported directly from states and territories to the Australian government,” its submission to the free TAFE bill read.

“If tasked with collecting and reporting on free TAFE, NCVER could provide robust, public data and insights into the initiative.”

The government has been facing mounting opposition to its free TAFE legislation, a cornerstone of its skills and training policy going into the election. The Business Council of Australia and Master Builders Australia have come out against the bill.