Budget 2019: Education spending on schools, students and training hubs
Eighty thousand new apprentices will be lured to take up the tools with cash bonuses to solve a national skills shortage, while the government will also spend $3.4 million to get more women into the subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics
NSW
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Eighty thousand new apprentices will be lured to take up the tools with cash bonuses to solve a national skills shortage.
Incentive payments of $2000 will be offered to young prospective employees in high-demand trades such as construction, carpentry and plumbing under a government plan to keep Australia’s infrastructure boom going. Companies that employ tradies will also reap rewards from the new scheme with incentive payments for hiring young workers to double to $8000 per employee.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg last night unveiled the initiative to create 80,000 apprenticeships as part of a $525 million funding package for the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system.
The money is being invested over five years. The new apprenticeships will be available for in-demand trades only and will especially benefit NSW where there is $80 billion worth of infrastructure projects in the pipeline.
Mr Frydenberg said the government was increasing “incentive payments” to ensure industry had enough apprentices in crucial fields.
“Our people are our most valuable asset,” Mr Frydenberg said. “We need to ensure all Australians of all ages have the skills they need for the jobs of today and the jobs of tomorrow.”
The package also includes $67.5 million to trial 10 new training hubs in regional areas with high youth unemployment to better connect schools, local industries and young people. It will also help workers build literacy, numeracy and digital skills with the government setting aside $62.4 million over four years to upskill workers.
Overall federal government investment in education and skills funding in NSW will increase by $431 million between 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Commonwealth schools funding in NSW is forecast to increase from $6 billion in 2019 to $10 billion in 2029 with overall spending hitting $20 billion.
Schools will also get a helping hand with upgrades to libraries, classrooms and play equipment through a new local school community fund worth $30 million.
The government has also agreed to back universal access to preschool for another year by spending another $453 million to allow 350,000 children to receive 15 hours of early learning per week. But it overlooked extending preschool to three-year-olds which Labor has promised to fund.
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NO SCIENCE FRICTION: STEM BOOSTS BUDDING GIRL BOFFINS
Students like 10-year-old Naima Sammut and her friend Isabella Parker, 11, will be encouraged to stick with science and maths to build Australia’s brains trust.
The Government announced $3.4 million over four years to get more women into the so-called STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“Young Australians should have every chance of success when it comes to career opportunities in the digital age,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in his Budget speech. “Tonight we provide further funding to increase participation for women and girls
in STEM.”
The extra money will fund the science in Australia Gender Equity program, which is designed to steer more girls — such as Australian Christian College students Naima and Isabella — into STEM careers.
The funding is in response to falling numbers of young women taking up STEM subjects in further education.
Mr Frydenberg announced $300 billion in schools funding, describing education as “critical to our prosperity, harmony and advancement as a country”.
Australian Christian College Marsden Park Principal Brendan Corr said getting an equitable
share of funding was schools’
main concern.
The also said the Government should do more to reduce the amount of administration work so they can spend more time in class.
— Adella Beaini
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PRE-SCHOOL SHOWDOWN OVER FUNDS
The Government has set itself up for an election showdown on preschools, refusing to heed sector calls for long-term funding of early childhood education.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg last night spruiked a $453.1 million funding continuation for preschools as a win for families, but the money only extended the current arrangements for a year and fell well short of Labor’s pre-election commitment to fund preschools for three-year-olds as well as four-year-olds.
Preschools are jointly funded by the states and commonwealth and refer to the year before formalised schooling. The Universal Access funding has been reviewed annually and the sector has said this piecemeal approach has meant long term strategy has not been possible. Labor last year announced it would fund two years of 15-hours a week of preschool for all children.
The Labor commitment will cost $1.75 billion.
— Lanai Scarr
BLUE SKIES AHEAD
Student aviators will be flying financially after the Government extended loan help for would-be pilots in a bid to ease a shortage in the aviation industry.
Flying students will be able to increase their loan limit from $104,440 to $150,000 through the vocational education and training student loan scheme from next year. Female aviation sector workers were also given a $4 million boost for measures to encourage more women into the male-dominated industry.
A BIT OF RESPECT
Children are being pushed to be more respectful with $2.8 million set aside to help kids be better behaved.
The money, which is being provided as part a $328 million package to reduce domestic and family violence, forms a crucial part of a government crackdown on bad behaviour.
It will “encourage respectful relationships” and “support student safety and wellbeing” under the Government’s Respect Matters initiative.
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