Fee-free TAFE offers agriculture a worker lifeline

An audacious plan to help solve the nation’s long-term labour and skills shortages is showing promise, with 9500 first semester enrolments.

A dribble of potential new workers for agriculture is moving down a fee-free TAFE pipeline the federal government hopes will become a torrent in coming years to help keep industries of “national priority” moving.

The program was designed to target skills and labour shortages in key industries and areas of emerging growth, such as agriculture, through trade and bachelor equivalent higher apprenticeships without students needing to enrol in a university.

The government released funding to cover more than 13,000 TAFE places this year to train locals to work in the agriculture sector with 9500 enrolments taken in the first half of 2023.

The top attended agriculture-related fee-free TAFE courses as at June 30 this year were horticulture (certificate III) with 2065 enrolments, followed by veterinary nursing (cert IV) with 1062, conservation and ecosystem management (cert III) at 910, animal care (cert II) at 901 and horticulture (cert II) with 729.

Source: Included

NSW led the way with 5199 of the 9500 enrolments, followed by Victoria (2237), Queensland (648), South Australia (632), Western Australia (334), Tasmania (290), the Northern Territory (156) and Australian Capital Territory (38).

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the scheme had “exceeded expectations” and would help the nation deal with skill shortages and fill jobs created in the energy transition.

“We promised 180,000 and there are currently 220,000 doing (the program),” he said.

“Working with industry to make sure that it can get the workforce that it needs is obviously very critical.”

National Farmers’ Federation horticulture council chair Jolyon Burnett said the industry was hungry for skilled workers to match its growth.

“It’s great to see horticulture enrolments going strong,” he said.

National Farmers’ Federation horticulture council chair Jolyon Burnett. Picture: Zizi Averill

“The challenge now is to keep these graduates in the industry long term and keep building on that momentum through the TAFE system.”

Careers in horticulture range from fruit, vegetable and nut production to nursery and turf work to applying technology and smart farming systems to irrigation.

The government has committed to a further 300,000 free-free spots from 2024 to 2026.

The program is co-funded by the federal and state governments. The original 180,000 places were established under a $1 billion 12-month Skills Agreement.

The Albanese government has already allocated $414 million for the extra 300,000 places while the contribution of states is currently being negotiated.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman