Mr LATHAM —My question is also directed to the Minister for Schools, Vocational Education and Training. Has the minister seen comments today by his Victorian Liberal colleague, Phil Honeywood:

Dr Kemp's arrogance has no bounds . . . he is acting like an endangered species who will say anything to protect his hide.

Minister, was this a reference to your repeated use of inaccurate claims and figures in this House, especially now that ANTA has advised you that your funding policies represent a 3.4 per cent cut on Labor's growth of the TAFE sector? Minister, is this not just another case of ANTA telling you one thing about TAFE funding and you telling the House exactly the opposite?

Dr KEMP —What hurts the Labor Party, if I can put this in its policy context, is the government's commitment to young people. What this government has done, as in so many other areas of policy, is to remedy the 13 years of neglect. No group in this country suffered more from neglect than this group did under the Labor Party. Whether it is through our new apprenticeships initiatives; whether it is through the Green Corps, to give young people a chance to work on the environment; whether it is through our literacy initiatives; whether it is through the youth allowance; or, whether it is through the work for the dole scheme, this government is determined to stand up for the rights of young people.

The government has made to the states a very generous offer. That offer is to maintain funding for TAFE in real terms for the next five years—an offer which the Labor Party never matched.

Mr Crean —There was funding there. You are totally wrong.

Mr Beazley —We guaranteed funding for 10 years.

Dr KEMP —There was no guarantee for 10 years. The Leader of the Opposition misled the House the other day in a personal explanation when he got up and said that there had been an agreement through ANTA to guarantee funding until the end of the decade. Do not think I did not go out of this House and check up on whether that was correct. ANTA knows of no such agreement. The Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs knows of no such agreement. You misled the House when you said that, because there was no such agreement. Will you repeat that in here? There was no such agreement at all.

The Leader of the Opposition is very bad with figures, as we know. He is the person who went around this country in the last election campaign and said that there was a $2 billion surplus, when there was a $10 billion deficit. He has never been any good with figures, and when the previous Prime Minister walked right over the top of him, he just laid down and died.

Mr SPEAKER —The minister was beginning to digress substantially from the thrust of the question, but I recognise that he has now concluded his response.

Mr Crean —You sat him down.

Mr SPEAKER —I did not sit him down. I thought the minister had concluded his response. But before the minister continues, I draw his attention to the question and recognise that he was digressing substantially from the question.

Dr KEMP —Mr Speaker, I was setting the policy context and showing that the government has had a number of very significant initiatives for young people. And one of the most significant initiatives for young people is the subject of this question. What the question concerns is the government's offer to the states, the intention of which is to encourage the states to continue to grow the number of places in their TAFE systems. The fact is that millions of dollars each year are being wasted in bureaucracy and red tape within the states. There is no blank cheque coming from the Commonwealth. The buck stops here: no more waste. No amount of empty rhetoric from a state minister will stop me from fighting for a better deal for young Australians. This government will continue to stand up for the young people of this country.