Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management) (14:42): I can assure you that in the Albanese government you have a government that is an incredibly strong supporter of our TAFE system. That is a contrast to what we have seen over the last 10 years, where we saw a government ideologically opposed to the public provision of vocational education and training. If you needed any evidence of that, all you needed to do was look at the—I think it was $4 billion that was ripped out of the TAFE system by the former government, until just before the election when they realised they had a political problem and started throwing a few extra dollars at it. There is no doubt that in your home state of Tasmania, in my home state of Queensland and in every state and territory across the country, our TAFE system has paid the price of being starved of resources for nearly 10 years by a Liberal and National government that was ideologically opposed to it. Senator McKenzie: By state governments! Senator Watt: I'll take the interjection from the—I'm not sure which—opposition senator who tried to blame state governments. You'd be talking about a Liberal state government in Tasmania, so I'm not sure how that helps your argument. But, Senator Lambie, I agree with you that our TAFEs do need more investment. They do need more investment when it comes to capital equipment. They do need more investment when it comes to teachers' wages. They do need more investment when it comes to places for TAFE. That's exactly why the Albanese government went to the election with a commitment to do so. I think it was out of the Jobs and Skills Summit that we committed to provide 180,000 new fee-free TAFE places for skills that are in demand. I'm sure a considerable portion of them flow to your state of Tasmania, but this is an ongoing job. Again, unfortunately, this is one of the various messes that we have inherited from the former government. It will take time to repair, but at least we now have a government in Australia that is philosophically committed to our TAFE system and to making it the centre of our vocational education and training system. The PRESIDENT: Senator Lambie, your first supplementary?