By Mikayla van Loon
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the collaborative effort to open up more free TAFE positions while opening the Jobs and Skills Summit beginning in Canberra on Thursday 1 September.
The plan, which was signed and sealed by each of the State and Territory governments and the Commonwealth at the National Cabinet meeting on Wednesday 31 August, 180,000 fee-free TAFE positions will be made available for 2023.
“This is a $1.1 billion dollar package and we’ve agreed to share the costs between the Commonwealth and the States and Territories,” Mr Albanese said.
“We will continue to cooperate on the design of the long term national skills agreement and indeed we’ve agreed to the principles that will shape it.”
Mr Albanese said while governments will work towards a solution for the future, understanding the urgent nature of education pathways, this billion dollar plan will act as a “training blitz”.
“We want to see more Australians gaining the skills they need to find good jobs in areas of national priority and I want this to be the beginning of, not the end of progress we see on skills and training over the next two days,” he said.
Hopeful this is the beginning of collaboration between all levels of government, on all sides, Mr Albanese said this is needed to “deal with the urgent challenges facing our economy.”
Throughout day one of the summit, conversations were had around equal opportunities for women, sustainable wage growth, the megatrends driving job and skills change and workforce opportunities for the transition to clean energy.
Day two will focus on skills, training and education pathways to cater for future employment, as well as the skilled migration workforce.
“These challenges are significant but more than that they are urgent,” Mr Albanese said.
“We have not gathered here to dig deeper trenches on the same old battlefield, our goal and indeed our responsibility, is to carry the conversation to common ground where the work is done and the progress is made.”
