Victorian budget 2018: free courses to meet jobs surge

Victoria will plough $828m into training and skills initiatives, including free TAFE courses.

Victorian Training and Skills Minister Gayle Tierney. Picture: Kylie Else

Victoria will plough $828 million into training and skills initiatives, including free TAFE courses in a bid to prepare the workforce needed to meet the demands of the state’s multi-billion-dollar infrastructure program.

Facing a shortage of skilled labour, the state government will spend $172m in the next four years on free tuition in dozens of TAFE and pre-apprenticeship courses linked to high-demand jobs in the construction, healthcare and service industries. A further $304m will fund 30,000 new training places in subsidised courses in fields where jobs growth is projected.

From January, students will pay no tuition fees for 30 TAFE courses and 18 pre-apprenticeship courses in areas such as building and construction, engineering, concreting, allied health, ageing and education support.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme and measures to curb family violence have also helped fuel demand for skilled workers.

The budget papers warned that with the job vacancy rate rising and enrolments in vocational education falling, the shortfall in trade and technically skilled workers was likely to continue unless the government intervened.

Treasurer Tim Pallas conceded that the skills shortage was a problem partly of the government’s own creation, having set an ambitious infrastructure agenda that includes new rail, road and tunnel projects as well as schools and hospitals.

He said the government acknowledged its role in training the next generation of Victorians to “keep building our state”.

“We’ve been lucky in the early few years of this government, we saw a drift of skills from Western Australia as the ... construction phase of the mining boom slowed down and ultimately petered out,” Mr Pallas said.

“Those skills ... allowed us to get on and do work.

“Now we have to build the homegrown product. So we should. It means that we’re providing long-term jobs for our kids.”

Described as a “historic overhaul” by Training and Skills Minister Gayle Tierney, the packed budget has also provided $120m to expand TAFE in regional Bendigo, Sale and Morwell and includes a new $49.8m program to enable 1700 students at 100 government schools to complete an extra year of school before committing to their trade training.

The TAFE announcements come on top of the government’s previously flagged $1.25 billion infrastructure programs, which will see 28 schools built and upgrades for 130 others, many of them concentrated in Melbourne’s inner east and bayside suburbs and in growth areas.

With an additional 90,000 students expected to come through the schooling system in the next five years, Education Minister James Merlino said significant investment was needed now to ensure future needs were met.

“This is about making sure every child has every chance to succeed,” he said.

“That means world-class buildings and classrooms to match world-class teaching.”

The $2.8bn schools budget also includes projects aimed at boosting teaching and education standards, including $32.9m to fund additional primary maths and ­science specialists, $22.1m to improving literacy and numeracy teaching and $4.4m for a principal readiness program that will include a new assessment system to ensure candidates are ready for the job.

Funding has also been recommitted for some of the Andrews government’s pet projects, including Doctors in Secondary Schools ($26.3m) and Respectful Relationships ($24m).

The government expects a further 40,000 teachers and school-based staff will undergo training for the contentious anti-violence program over the next two years.