Rachel spoke on the government’s Education and Training Reform Amendment (Free TAFE Guarantee) Bill 2026. Rachel and Legalise Cannabis supported the provision of free TAFE, however noted that the guarantee features a narrow focus and cannot be legally enforced. In her speech, Rachel also raised the untapped potential of cannabis-related studies, to support a local cannabis market and hemp industry.
Wednesday the 1st of April 2026,
Victorian Legislative Council
Rachel Payne (South-Eastern Metropolitan):
I rise to speak on the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Free TAFE Guarantee) Bill 2026 on behalf of Legalise Cannabis Victoria. The provision of quality and accessible vocational education and training is essential to the education system, to industry and to the community. However, I think it is fair to say that our appreciation for a technical or TAFE education has been diminished over several years. We live in an age of the university. The profound and revolutionary changes to the education system under Gough Whitlam in the 1970s were life-changing for many. They opened up pathways to higher education previously closed to people like me, those from working-class and low socio-economic backgrounds. This changed Australia for the better. Decades later our federal colleagues on both sides of the aisle could do with a reminder of just how many great Australian writers, lawyers, academics, thinkers and, yes, politicians would simply not be where they are today if Whitlam had not made higher education free and thereby lowered the drawbridge to Australia’s universities. A university education should be within reach for all who want it and are suited to it.
Practical and work-focused pathways
However, this course correction, while very welcome – revolutionary, even – did have some unintended consequences. One was that a university education was elevated above other pathways, including TAFE and work. Flash forward several decades, and schools, workplaces and families of all backgrounds have an almost laser focus on getting young people on the pathway to university. While not intended, this devalued TAFE. We all recall kids at school doing subjects like ‘prevo’, prevocational training, or ‘home ec’, home economics, being referred to in the negative. Practical and work-focused subjects and pathways beyond school were seen as the lesser option. The idea was that if they were smarter they would go to uni, and in one generation this has led to a glut of lawyers who cannot find a plumber. It has also seen many young people studying courses and pursuing careers that perhaps are not suited to them. Some people are more practical learners. They thrive in environments that are focused on doing rather than reading, writing and listening. Some of us like sitting in the office and doing Teams meetings – actually none of us like doing those – and others prefer working outside or in person with actual things and with people. Neither is better or more valid than the other. The best possible outcome for students, business and society is that we have education and training pathways available that suit us all.
When university education was made free under Whitlam and somewhat affordable under successive governments, higher education was opened up to many more, including people like me. I come from a working-class family in Newcastle, and I was the first woman in my family to go to university. I have been independent from my family since I was 16 years old, and without those reforms I would never have had the chance to do an undergraduate degree and later my master’s in public policy. I am grateful, and this has been life changing. Indeed, it is one of the many reasons I am here today. Having said that, I do not see other pathways to work and study as any less valid. Perhaps the pendulum has swung too far towards university at almost all costs. What this has led to is a lot of kids studying courses that they are not suited to as well as skills shortages in essential professions like nursing, disability support, mental health, information technology, cybersecurity, early childhood, horticulture, construction, hospitality and many more. We need to rebalance to respect university education as well as technical education and also work. There is nothing wrong with finishing school and getting a job.
Restoring the TAFE sector
The TAFE sector has had a few rough decades. The closure of technical colleges, the gutting of TAFE institutes and the shift to cheap and often nasty private registered training organisations (RTOs) all played their part in reducing the regard given to the TAFE sector. It cut the sector off at the knees, and now we see the results. We have less than ideal completion rates, and I will return to that point later. We have chronic shortages in health care, construction, hospitality and many more. You might be able to get your plans drawn up for your new home, but you most certainly will struggle to find the tradies to build it. For this and other reasons we welcome the provision of free TAFE courses and commend the government for righting the wrongs of previous decades and working toward a system where TAFE is no longer seen as the poor cousin of universities. We would welcome the provision of free education across the board, but that is a debate for another day. We support this bill and appreciate greatly that TAFE is closer to getting the respect it deserves.
‘Guarantee’ cannot be enforced
However, we have a few caveats. The first point I would like to raise is that the guarantee in this bill is not really a guarantee. The guarantee contains no legal rights, cannot be enforced and only requires the minister to publish a list of free courses. The bill fulfils a 2022 Victorian government commitment to ensure that TAFE is guaranteed 70 per cent of VET funding. These amendments are part of the government’s work to reform and rebuild Victoria’s public TAFE system and for alignment to the National Skills Agreement with the Commonwealth. Current legislation does not define the role of TAFE as a public provider compared to other types of training providers, nor does it require TAFE institutes to operate in a coordinated way across Victoria.
Moreover, I have heard significant concerns in my electorate around access to TAFE, and I mean literal physical access – getting there. Many TAFE institutes have been closed, and there are simply not enough of them in the areas where there is need and demand. The Productivity Commission’s February report on government services found that TAFE provider locations in Victoria have significantly decreased and that Victoria has the lowest rates of VET qualifications per capita in Australia. This is simply not good enough and needs to be corrected as a matter of urgency.
Practical commitment to access still needed
Part of the problem I am hearing from my constituents is that many TAFE institutes that do exist are very difficult to get to via public transport. We are making it all too hard. Almost all TAFE students are juggling multiple demands and challenges to study. Often they have responsibilities at home and at work. Most do not come from families that can support them financially to study; they must work. Many do not have cars or the funds to pay for the costs associated with driving long distances and parking. This problem is only increasing as petrol prices soar and the cost-of-living crisis worsens. Cost-of-living pressures hit working people harder than everyone else. If this prevents them from acquiring skills and training, it is a double blow. The best possible outcome and the one most likely to lead to higher completion rates, which is ultimately what we all want, is for TAFE institutes to be plentiful, located in high-demand areas and easily accessible by public transport. It is not rocket science. Any educator or researcher will tell you that getting to your place of study should be easy.
I recently had a constituent inquiry on this subject. My constituent is a resident of Beaconsfield Upper looking to study horticulture, with aspirations of becoming an arborist. He found course options in Cranbourne and Glen Waverley; however, he does not drive. There are no viable public transport options from Beaconsfield Upper to these locations on weekdays. Beaconsfield Upper is a suburb of Cardinia shire, which currently has no TAFE facilities, and I note that Cardinia shire is one of the fastest growing suburbs in the south-east. My constituent has no choice but to pay a rideshare service to travel to TAFE. That is absurd. Most students simply cannot afford to catch an Uber to TAFE. So while we welcome the free TAFE guarantee, this must be accompanied by a practical commitment to access, or it simply will not work.
I would like to return now to the vexed issue of completion rates. Obviously there is little point offering free TAFE courses if they are not being finished in decent numbers. I note that the Productivity Commission’s report flagged this issue and highlighted a need for the minister’s annual report to include student completion rates for all free TAFE courses. I suggest that it would also be helpful to know who is taking up these courses and why. If the purpose of free TAFE is to skill a future workforce, it is important that we know that the people who are in these courses are intending to use them for work or further study. I would imagine that there are some community members who would be keen to socialise at TAFE or dabble in a new area or new learnings. If people are looking for a fresh start or to change careers via TAFE study and they are not finishing the course, then we need to understand why that is the case. Free TAFE cannot be a feel-good exercise or a shiny media release. It is far too important. It must lead to real outcomes for individuals and the economy.
Growing opportunity for cannabis courses
Speaking of potential, it would be remiss of me not to take this opportunity to highlight the missed opportunities in the TAFE sector for cannabis-related study, including the myriad benefits of hemp. The cannabis market is estimated at over $25 billion worldwide and growing rapidly, pardon the pun. Cannabis has been used for millennia. Some use it for a good time; others use it for relaxation, socialisation, sleep, appetite, inflammation, epilepsy, perimenopause, ADHD and many other conditions. Consumers report finding it less addictive and harmful than alcohol and with much fewer side effects than a range of commonly prescribed medications. Despite recent prohibitionist propaganda in the press, the health benefits of cannabis are well documented. There are close to 700,000 medicinal cannabis consumers in Australia and many more general consumers.
What gets less attention are the environmental and other benefits of hemp, which are numerous and indisputable. Hemp is being used all over the world in construction, fashion, packaging and much more. Hemp is a multibillion-dollar industry. Just ask famous heartthrob Zac Efron, who recently built a fully sustainable house in Australia out of hemp and who champions it as the building material of the future. The cannabis and hemp revolution is here, and it is going to require a workforce in medicine, in manufacturing and in construction. TAFE institutes should – like in comparable countries like Canada, the US and many other European countries – be at the forefront of equipping our health, horticulture, pharmaceutical, construction and other workforces. There are so many opportunities for employment in the cannabis field, especially in an age where AI is decimating other industries. The immature and outdated stereotypes about this wondrous plant need to stop, and we need an education system and workforce ready to harness her many benefits.
Cannabis is now and has always been a working-class issue. We would like to see the TAFE sector at the forefront of the cannabis education revolution. Right now we are being left behind. We should have plentiful public TAFE institutes offering courses, like the Linnaeus Competence Center Hemp in Germany, which develops vocational education and training approaches to industrial hemp cultivation; like the WeCann Academy in Brazil, which offers an international certification in endocannabinoid medicine designed for healthcare professionals; or closer to home, like Ballarat’s Federation TAFE, which will be the first campus in Australia to deliver nationally accredited training in medicinal cannabis cultivation and production.
Federation University provost Liam Sloan said:
“Federation will be the first in Australia to deliver the Certificates III and IV in Medicinal Cannabis Cultivation and Production. The design and development of these courses presents many opportunities for Federation TAFE and the communities in which we operate, including the potential for hundreds of jobs in manufacturing, agriculture, research and development.
Industry partnerships are a key element of Federation’s co-operative education model …
Federation TAFE is committed to addressing skills shortages and is also excited to work with our industry partners to play a part in improving the quality of life for patients suffering from a range of conditions who will benefit from easier access to a range of reliable and locally produced medicinal cannabis products.“
The market is there. The students are willing. Our education system is not keeping up.
Ensuring inclusivity of providers
Another issue I would like to flag is the concern from the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, or VACCHO, about unintended consequences of the bill. While VACCHO supports the intention of the TAFE funding guarantee, we share their concern that the training providers defined in the TAFE funding guarantee are too narrow in focus. They are calling for a change to the wording in the bill from ‘TAFE and dual-sector universities’ to a more general term of ‘public vocational education and training providers’. This change removes the possibility that Aboriginal community controlled RTOs could be excluded from funding and does not change the outcome of the bill, and I just want to acknowledge that from what I understand the minister will be speaking to this in the committee-of-the-whole stage.
At Legalise Cannabis Victoria we commend the government making TAFE more affordable. These changes are starting to bring the reputation and standing of TAFE and the technical education sector back to where they should be. There is honour in any work that is done well and to a high standard. Working people take pride in their work, and they should also take pride in the education and training they undertake to be able to do this work. We all should be proud of TAFE. We commend this bill and hope that in the very near future the provision of publicly accessible, affordable and local TAFE education is a reality for all Victorians.
Related:
- Public education funding – Rachel Payne
- Inquiry into the State Education System in Victoria – Rachel Payne
