Ms BADGER (Lyons) – Honourable Speaker, the automotive industry in this state needs certainty. Between local structural changes and global market shifts, it deserves aspirational and futuristic planning. We all drive cars, so we are all reliant on mechanics being fully trained to keep our cars running and to ensure road and vehicle safety for all. The recent flooding at TasTAFE’s Campbell Street campus has been the impetus for training changes in Tasmania. However, thorough future-proofing and long-term planning should have been underway long ago.
The Campbell Street facility – where I did most of my training – has been subpar for a while, and that has been expressed by teachers and students. In August 2024, a serious complaint was made regarding fumes and carbon monoxide in the building. This led to an investigation in late October, so what occurred with the poisoning incident in November was devastating and avoidable.
A week later the flooding occurred. This was at the end of the teaching year, so there was an entire summer to prepare for the 2025 training year, time to ensure clean communication with employers and with students. But what employers and trainees have heard so far about future training has been inconsistent and totally uncommitted. We are still hearing from employers who are confused about when and where apprentices are required to go and what exactly for.
TAFE said on 3 February that its insurance assessor advised that the ground floor and basement of the Campbell Street building would not be operational until sometime in 2026. Today we have heard from the minister that that insurance assessment process is actually still underway. On 27 February, the TAFE Consultation and Communication Plan stated that a building in Rokeby has been identified. In 2026, are we looking at Campbell Street, Rokeby, or both?
On the trade training centres as an interim alternative, as I have outlined in a previous adjournment, they are not sufficiently equipped for the type of hands‑on training that is most needed. Now, we hear that the Department for Education, Children and Young People is, understandably, requiring apprentices to hold a Working with Vulnerable People card if they are in those centres. For a myriad of reasons, folks training might not be able to acquire that card and it is not a mandatory part of the mechanical training or, indeed, mandatory for a mechanical career. What is the government doing to assist these learners? Are there reimbursements for these checks and cards? Will apprentices who are not going to be able to use the trade training centres because they do not have a card have to join the others having to go to Launceston for their hands‑on training?
These are all structural changes, but we are also seeing a huge industry and consumer change in the global car market. There is a need to adapt to the rapid change to ensure training in the required skills is available in Tasmania so that we can service the increasing number of EVs and ensure that all internal combustion engine vehicles on our roads are maintained at the appropriate emissions standard.
The decision to force staff out of their jobs was totally unacceptable. The minister oversaw these job losses despite the absence of a plan for this critical training program moving forward. Some of the people who have left TasTAFE were revered mechanics not only in Australia but in global motorsport. The networks, the expertise and the skills they chose to bring to TasTAFE and our state’s automotive sector are unparalleled. This government should be embarrassed for treating these legends in the way that they have.
With the southern workforce halved, I am hearing industry concern that the government is looking to deliver cheap, smaller and, ultimately, inadequate automotive training programs. The training will be reduced to classroom-based, book-based learning, with the hands‑on delivery just in the north. This learning plan is completely inadequate. It is the integration of theory with practice that is the tried‑and-true best method for learning, especially for trades. The minister himself knows this.
The minister’s evasive nature upon questioning this morning proves that he needs a good idea for the future of automotive in Tasmania, so here it is: Build an automotive Centre of Excellence. Invest in the industry’s future. This is a huge opportunity. Let us have a state-of-the‑art workshop and learning facilities in Tasmania, ensure courses for EV tech across all learning levels
Mr Jaensch – You hate cars.
Ms BADGER – Mr Jaensch, it is not a joke. This is a serious thing we should be having. TAFE plays a crucial role in supporting Tasmanian jobs and ensuring our industries keep up with rapid technological change. We need more trade training investment and an ambitious vision for the future, not job cuts. An automotive centre of excellence will give our state a huge boost and the minister needs to get on board and make it a reality.
