National Skills Week: TAFE gets $900 million as government looks to build VET sector

Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor. Source: AAP Image/James Ross.

National Skills Week has launched ahead of next week’s government’s jobs and skills summit.

As part of the week, the federal government has allocated $850 million for 465,000 fee-free TAFE places and for TAFE infrastructure.

Additionally, 45,000 additional TAFE places for “industries suffering acute shortages” have been created, alongside a $50 million TAFE technology fund.

The government has said a focus will be on apprentices and trainees, with one in 10 workers on a federally funded government project being an apprentice or trainee.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was focusing on growing the vocational sector.

“Our goal is to build a strong VET sector to help more Australians get secure, well-paying jobs while providing the skilled workers that business needs to grow our economy,” Albanese said in a media release.

“Next week we are hosting our Jobs and Skills Summit that will bring together unions, business groups, and the people who help run our world-class VET sector,  to look at how we deliver immediate action on the skills shortages Australia is facing.”

Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor added the week was an opportunity to recognise the value of the VET sector.

“The first bill introduced to this parliament was to establish a new independent body, Jobs and Skills Australia, to provide independent advice to government so we can better respond to future skills demand and better match taxpayers’ investment in areas of need,” the Minister said.

Much has been discussed about the upcoming jobs and skills summit, with the government anticipating 100 attendees when it was first announced.

Last week, Treasury released a whitepaper outlining the five broad areas of focus for the summit, as previously reported in The Mandarin.

The five areas will be: maintaining full employment and growing productivity, boosting job security and wages, reducing barriers to employment, delivering a high-quality labour force through skills, training and migration, and maximising opportunities in the “industries of the future”.

The government has repeatedly stated its desire to use the summit to discuss the participation of women in the workforce.

The skills summit will be held on September 1 and 2.

This article was first published by The Mandarin.

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