Game-changer: Free TAFE courses in $2.5b skills splash

A landmark national skills agreement will see a complete overhaul of TAFE, including free courses in critical areas.

Tens of thousands of Queenslanders will be able to access free TAFE courses after the states secured more than $2.5bn from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in skills and training funding for the next five years.

Set to take effect in January, the landmark National Skills Agreement developed by National Cabinet would see a focus on areas of “national priority” – including health care, child care, service industries and infrastructure.

Branded as a historic first, a new National Stewardship model would co-ordinate strategic investment to support training in the areas most needed, see the establishment of nationally networked TAFE Centres of Excellence, and the expansion of access to the vocational education and training sector.

Queensland Training and Skills Minister Di Farmer – who on Tuesday turned the sod on a new $40m TAFE Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing Centre in Brisbane – described the deal as a game-changer for Queensland.

“This partnership will mean we’re providing a world-class training system in Queensland to equip our workforce for the jobs we need now and importantly for the jobs we need for the future,” she said.

State and territories had lobbied the Albanese government to seek a longer-term Commonwealth funding arrangement for the VET sector, with the result a five-year funding guarantee.

Queensland Training and Skills Minister Di Farmer

With the federal government chipping in $2.54bn, the Queensland government will investment almost $4bn – a contribution Ms Farmer said would help deliver high-quality training to Queenslanders wherever they lived in the state.

“This national agreement, including fee free TAFE, will help us to achieve that in our diverse and decentralised state,” she said.

“Training changes people’s lives and we know that for so many it has been the difference between not having a job and getting one.”

More than 45,000 Queensland had taken up fee free TAFE this year alone.

Federal Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor said the agreement would kickstart a real change.

“The TAFE sector has endured periods of underfunding, impacts of deregulation, loose rules of VET market entry, a lack of national cohesion and an obsession for competition at the expense of collaboration,” he said.

“By providing genuine national leadership in partnership with states and territories, we are building a system that is greater than the sum of its parts.

“A high performing and world class VET sector is crucial for achieving a fairer society and a stronger economy.”

Stakeholders came out in strong support of the announcement including the Housing Industry Association, who said the National Skills Agreement was critical to grow the construction workforce.

“This investment is a key plank in addressing the skills shortages, strengthening our VET sector and training and upskilling workers into national priority areas including construction,” managing director Jocelyn Martin said.