Interview with Stephen Cenatiempo, 2CC Canberra

Event: Interview with Stephen Cenatiempo, 2CC Canberra
Date: 21January 2025, 8.35am AEDT
Speakers: Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia
Topics: Free TAFE Bill 2024

E&OE

Stephen Cenatiempo, 2CC Radio: One of the pillars of, well, one of the few policies this government has actually enacted is its free TAFE bill, well trying. Well, the government is being urged to halt legislation before the upcoming federal election to bring in fee-free TAFE, and the urge is coming from Australia’s builders, who have united in opposition against this. To talk to us about this, the CEO of Master Builders Australia Denita Wawn joins us. G’day. Denita.

Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia: Good morning, Stephen.

Stephen: Now I, look, I have my own philosophical issues with fee-free TAFE, but given the shortages in the building industry, I thought you guys would have been in support of this.

Denita: We’re definitely supportive of it as a policy, a budgetary policy, to implement as much access to training for apprentices as possible. There’s no doubt about that. It’s critical that we get more apprentices in the system. However, what we’re concerned about is if you then legislate for fee-free TAFE at the expense of the private market, then you create unfair market distortions. It is already creating difficulties for some training providers, and we see already that you know, and we’re very upfront about this, Master Builders Australia members run not-for-profit, industry-run, private RTOs, who are feeling the heat of this, of this policy. And so, we want to see more data about, does fee-free TAFE actually bring in more people, or does it shuffle the decks? And we still don’t have the data to justify that, and therefore we’re saying, hold it. Let’s have a look at the data. Let’s consider what this has done, and let’s instead focus on retention and completion. We only have about 50 per cent of commencements actually complete their apprenticeship, and we’re still waiting for a report that we know is sitting on the Minister’s desk.

Stephen: And that’s the concern I have, is that if its free, people don’t value it as much, and I think you’ll see that dropout rate probably increase.

Denita: Yeah, that’s certainly a concern for us, and that’s, again, another reason why we think data is so important. We have a lot of apprentices starting in the system, but they don’t complete. And the question is, why? And the government put together a group to review the issue around retention and completion. They did a fantastic job, but we don’t know the outcomes of their recommendations. We understand the reports been sitting there before Christmas. We would love the government to focus on that concern, more so than legislate, when we think it’s too early.

Stephen: And they’re running out of time to do all of this too. Denita, great to talk to you this morning.

Denita: As always. Thank you. Stephen.

Stephen: Denita Wawn is the CEO of Master Builders Australia.

Media contact:
Dee Zegarac
National Director, Media & Public Affairs
0400 493 071
dee.zegarac@masterbuilders.com.au