Apprentice and trainee plunge as skills war erupts

Apprentice and trainee numbers plunged more than 50,000 in Anthony Albanese’s first year in office, as the government pushes to boost new entrants and completions.

Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor with apprentices Damon Anderson and Becky Hlinak at the Osborne Shipyard. Picture Dean Martin

Apprentice and trainee numbers plunged more than 50,000 in Anthony Albanese’s first year in ­office as the government backed its fee-free TAFE program to upskill workers under a wider strategy focused on boosting new entrants and completions.

Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor on Sunday blamed the dip in trainees and ­apprentices on the Morrison government inflating the market through “unsustainable 50 per cent wage subsidies” introduced during the pandemic.

Mr O’Connor, who on Monday will reveal that VET Fee-Help loans surged more than six-fold under the Coalition, said the former government spent $3.8bn annually to “prop-up the apprenticeship system”.

National Centre for Vocational Education and Research figures reveal there were 429,000 apprentices and trainees in training at the end of the 2022 June quarter, which fell to 377,000 over the next 12 months.

The Coalition says NCVER data shows a 49.7 per cent fall in apprentice and trainee commencements in the same period.

Responding to the NCVER figures, which show a 10.3 per cent fall in completions and 38.6 per cent drop in commencements for trade apprentices, Mr O’Connor said the Morrison government’s incentives were “lazy, inefficient and wasteful”.

The Coalition-era pandemic incentives, which coincided with a construction boom fuelled by the former government’s HomeBuilder program, increased apprenticeship commencements but failed to fix contracting completion rates.

“We are putting apprentices at the heart of the system. We have seen a declining completion rate over the last decade as the previous government ignored the apprentice while filling employer’s pockets. This splurge of taxpayers’ money did not provide value for dollar,” Mr O’Connor told The Australian.

“As the party of economic responsibility, we will ensure taxpayer dollars will be invested to attract, support and help apprentices complete their training. This means that the apprentice gets lifelong skills, the employer gets the skills they need and the economy can continue to grow.”

Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley attacked the government for “overseeing a wholesale collapse in the number of apprentices and trainees in every state and in almost every electorate across the nation”.

The opposition skills spokeswoman said “Labor’s much vaunted fee-free TAFE skills policy has comprehensively failed to maintain the number of apprentices and trainees taking up training, with numbers collapsing across the country”.

Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. Picture: Sunday Telegraph/Brendan Read

“Despite all of Labor’s promises to skill Australians, their policies are failing and there are now over 50,000 less apprentices and trainees today than when Labor took office,” Ms Ley said.

Mr O’Connor, who last week unveiled new legislation to weed out dodgy Vocational Education and Training operators, on Sunday revealed VET Fee-Help loans exploded under the Coalition between 2013 and 2016 before the scheme was closed by the Turnbull government.

New figures reveal almost 190,000 students have had $3.55bn loan debts re-credited in five years under redress measures clearing debts for those exploited by unscrupulous VET providers who promised courses, free laptops and other incentives that were never delivered.

The Albanese government extended the redress program by 12 months to December 31 last year after more than 4000 student debts were delayed because of IT faults under the Morrison government, which set up the re-crediting scheme in January 2019.

Under Labor and Coalition governments, there was an explosion in dodgy VET sector training courses providers.

During the Rudd-Gillard governments, $1.39bn in VFH loans were processed.

From 2013 to 2016 under Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, the number surged above $9bn, with most loans directed to for-profit ­providers.

Mr O’Connor said that the ­Coalition was “slow to act” and oversaw a “more than six-fold increase” in VFH loans.

“The Coalition welcomes dodgy providers into the sector, who saw rivers of gold flowing from the government’s coffers. We are targeting those dodgy providers and their egregious conduct and returning integrity to the sector,” he said.

The Australian understands the Coalition is likely to support Labor’s crackdown on the VET sector but will push for amendments clarifying some powers. The new powers target VET providers who are dormant, offering unauthorised courses, enabling international students to work illegally and gouging people for undelivered services.