Budget commitments in skilling Australia

16 July 2024

Whilst the 2024-25 Federal Budget did not feature the big-ticket announcement of hundreds of thousands of Fee-Free TAFE places or billion-dollar TAFE specific investment like last year, it did include over $600 million of new skills investments on top of existing commitments to the National Skills Agreement signed in the last year, and the establishment of Jobs and Skills Australia and the VET Workforce Blueprint Strategy. It also included select measures that will influence the operation of TAFE and impact the working lives of TAFE teachers into the future.

Future Made in Australia

The headline priority area for skills in the budget is the government’s “Future Made in Australia” package, designed to be a nation building investment in renewable energy and the transition to net zero, at a total of $22.7 billion over the next decade.

A large proportion of the total investment is aimed at incentivising private investment in net zero industries, however, there are still several measures under the Future Made in Australia banner that directly fund the vocational education sector:

$91 million over five years from 2023–24 to support the development of the clean energy workforce, including through addressing vocational education and training sector trainer workforce shortages, and funding new and existing training facility upgrades across a range of clean energy occupations.

$55.6 million over four years from 2024–25 to establish the Building Women’s Careers program to drive structural and systemic change in work and training environments. This program will fund partnerships between training providers, community organisations, employers, and unions to improve women’s access to flexible, safe and inclusive work and training opportunities in traditionally male-dominated industries of national priority, including clean energy sectors.

However, there is little detail available about how funds from the Building Women’s Careers program will be deployed, beyond the assertion that the program will provide around 10 large grants and several small-scale grants over the next four years.

Announced before the Budget was $88.8 million over three years from 2024–25 to support 20,000 new fee-free training places. This is an expansion of the existing Fee-Free TAFE program with 15,000 places specifically for courses relevant to the construction sector and delivered through TAFE and industry registered training organisations.It also includes 5,000 Fee-Free places to increase access to pre-apprenticeship programs.

Connecting pathways

The Budget also included funding to implement recommendations from the Australian Universities Accord including $27.7 million over four years from 2024–25 (and an additional $32.8 million from 2028–29 to 2034–35) to develop initiatives that “break down artificial barriers and harmonise regulatory, governance and qualification arrangements between the higher education and vocational education and training sectors.” It is expected that this funding will be used to help streamline recognition of prior learning in TAFE and vocational education for students enrolling in university, and to ensure that pathways through vocational education and tertiary education are more clearly defined and accessible.

There were also a number of smaller skills-based measures in the Budget including:

$10.6 million over four years from 2024–25 (and $1 million per year ongoing) for the implementation of a reporting solution for the Australian Skills Guarantee

$9.5 million in 2024–25 in additional funding for Jobs and Skills Australia’s continued provision of advice on Australia’s labour market, skills and training needs

$6.1 million in 2024–25 in additional funding for the National Careers Institute to continue its role in supporting Australians to access targeted careers information

$2.9 million in 2024–25 in reallocated funding for continued implementation work with the states and territories on the 5-year National Skills Agreement that commenced on 1 January 2024.

$4.4 million in 2024–25 to support delivering the VET workforce required to meet Australia’s future skills needs. This will include delivering strategic communications to increase the appeal of VET for students, parents and teachers, and extending community awareness of Fee-Free TAFE courses in areas of high skills needs which has ensured strong uptake of Fee-Free TAFE places to date.

$10.6 million over four years from 2024–25 (and $1.0 million per year ongoing) for the implementation of a reporting solution for the Australian Skills Guarantee

$9.5 million in 2024–25 in additional funding for Jobs and Skills Australia

$6.1 million in 2024–25 in additional funding for the National Careers Institute

$3.9 million over four years from 2024–25 to train TAFE teachers to deliver courses relevant to key professions within the nuclear-powered submarine enterprise.

Further support for the Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System

The government has promised $265.1 million over four years to adjust previously scheduled Phase Two Apprenticeship Incentive System payments “to provide further support for apprentices, trainees and their employers in priority occupations, while the Government undertakes the Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System.” These changes are welcome and will increase payments to apprentices from $3,000 to $5,000 and will increase payments to employers from $4,000 to $5,000.

Improved subsidies for apprentices are important, but so is ensuring that apprentices receive a longer term commitment from their employers. The position of the AEU is that this subsidy should therefore be dependent on apprentices having their employment maintained for at least 12 months from the conclusion of their apprenticeship.

Minimal capital investment

A nation building investment in TAFE campuses and equipment was not forthcoming in the Budget. This Budget, centred on the nation building potential of a Future Made in Australia Initiative, lacked a similar bold vision for the future of TAFE campuses and equipment. A new Capital and Equipment Investment Fund, totalling $50 million over three years has been described as part of a co-investment with states to “to ensure that TAFE facilities are equipped and ready to deliver cutting-edge training in clean energy qualifications and support more students to undertake this training.”

Whilst all capital investment in TAFE is welcome, it was nonetheless disappointing that the Albanese government did not manage greater ambition than the Coalition who had budgeted for a very similarly sized short term $50 million TAFE campus upgrade fund in their 2021-22 Budget. If TAFE is to truly be at the heart of vocational education in Australia, state-of-the-art campuses, equipment and facilities are needed.

Time to turbo charge investment in educators

Although the large investment and commitment to TAFE made by the Albanese government through the National Skills Agreement and the expanded Fee-Free TAFE initiative is very welcome, there are still significant concerns among TAFE teachers and support staff on workload, job security, and the level of support required by students accessing the expanded Fee-Free TAFE program.

The AEU’s State of Our TAFE survey showed that students enrolling in Fee-Free TAFE have significantly higher levels of additional needs including mental health, digital skills, literacy and numeracy and English language needs than the overall TAFE student cohort, and that TAFE institutes are generally not currently resourced to support those needs.

The only Budget measure for more teacher support was “Turbocharge the Teacher, Trainer and Assessor Workforce” which will provide $30 million to the states to support existing initiatives and new measures to rapidly upskill teachers, trainers and assessors involved in the clean energy, manufacturing and construction sectors. “Rapidly upskilling” the remaining TAFE workforce is not enough –a comprehensive and long-term TAFE workforce strategy is needed to restore the sector.

Missed opportunity

As the AEU’s 2024 State of Our TAFE survey shows, TAFE workers are chronically overburdened to the point where many are planning to leave the sector. A clear majority of workers said that both their working hours and the pace and intensity of their work increased over the last year, and they are working almost a day a week in excess of their contracted hours.

As a result of these pressures, more than two thirds of TAFE workers had considered leaving the sector in the last year, 45 per cent plan to remain for less than five years and only one quarter plan to spend their entire career in TAFE. Additionally, more than three quarters said that workload has a major impact on the recruitment and retention of TAFE teachers from industry.

The 2024-25 Federal Budget presented the government with an opportunity to provide the support to TAFE students and to help retain TAFE teachers to ensure that the Fee-Free TAFE initiative is a long-term success. It also offered a chance to regenerate the TAFE workforce following a decade of cuts and attrition due to excessive workload and poor pay. Whilst there is a substantial investment in skills in this Budget as the underpinning of the “Future Made in Australia” plan, the opportunity to recognise and prioritise the importance of TAFE workers in that plan was not taken up.

By Jonathon Guy

This article was originally published in The Australian TAFE Teacher, Winter 2024